The Good Fire Act Goes to Governor for Signature

SACRAMENTO, CA - Assemblymember Chris Rogers' (D-Santa Rosa) AB 1699, the Good Fire Act, has cleared the state Legislature and now awaits the Governor's signature. This comprehensive legislation is designed to significantly expand California's capacity to conduct prescribed burns and cultural burning practices. The bill addresses critical operational, liability, and certification barriers that have limited the state's ability to use beneficial fire as a tool to reduce catastrophic wildfire risk and restore ecological health.

"For generations, California Tribes have stewarded the landscape with fire. This community wide effort created a safer and healthier ecosystem for all," said Assemblymember Chris Rogers. "Regrettably, one of the first laws ever passed by the Legislature outlawed this practice. We restricted cultural burning practices and ignored that wisdom. AB 1699 is about continuing to right that historic wrong."

California faces an escalating wildfire crisis with millions of acres suffering from fuel build-up due to excessive fire suppression and past management. Prescribed fire and cultural burning are proven, cost-effective tools for reducing hazardous fuels, restoring ecosystems, and protecting communities. However, regulatory complexities, liability concerns, and workforce bottlenecks have prevented these practices from reaching the scale needed to address the crisis.

The Good Fire Act builds on recent executive actions by Governor Newsom that addressed some of these barriers on an emergency basis, codifying those changes into permanent law and expanding protections further.

The Good Fire Act tackles barriers across three key areas:

• Removing Operational Restrictions: The bill codifies emergency actions in Governor Newsom's October 29 Executive Order that clarify CAL FIRE assistance on community-led burns does not trigger additional CEQA requirements, makes pre-burn inspections optional for certified burn bosses while preserving CAL FIRE's discretion to inspect when needed, and enables state grant recipients to pay overtime for prescribed fire operations.
• Addressing Liability Concerns: The legislation expands eligibility for the Prescribed Fire Liability Claims Fund to include resource conservation districts, volunteer fire departments, and tribal governments. It also eliminates the fund's 2028 sunset date and extends liability protections to retired CAL FIRE burn bosses who maintain their certifications.
• Reducing Credential Bottlenecks: The bill creates pathways for federally-trained and CAL FIRE burn bosses to obtain California Certified Burn Boss (CARX) qualifications without duplicating training, and reduces CARX recertification requirements from annual to every three years.

"The Good Fire Act reflects months of conversations with burners, academics, regulators and lawyers to identify unnecessary barriers that were slowing California's ability to do important beneficial fire projects," said Paul Mason, Vice President for Policy & Incentives at Pacific Forest Trust, the bill sponsor. "We crafted solutions that remove friction from the process and help meet the state's fire goals. Everyone loves a thoughtful bill that saves money and reduces paperwork, and we're grateful that the Legislature passed AB 1699 without a single No vote."

"We are proud to strongly support AB 1699 (the Good Fire Act), and we thank Assemblymember Rogers for authoring this critical piece of legislation and Pacific Forest Trust for their sponsorship and partnership," said Kenneth Brink, Karuk Vice Chair. "Karuk People have used fire to manage our homelands for millennia, and continue to do so. AB 1699 will solidify foundational supports for beneficial fire, while reducing key operational, liability, and credentialing bottlenecks. Some provisions that we are particularly excited about include permanentizing the Prescribed Fire and Cultural Burning Liability Claims Fund, which Karuk helped create, and statutorily enabling CAL FIRE to support tribal and community-led burns without triggering CEQA. We now urge Governor Newsom to sign AB 1699 into law."

"The Good Fire Act is the culmination of many years of progress and fine tuning around beneficial fire policy in California," Lenya Quinn-Davidson, Fire Network Director, University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources. "Every part of this bill came from the lived experience and needs of practitioners on the ground, and I'm proud we were able to translate their practical challenges into collaborative policy solutions that will truly expand this work."

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Chris Rogers was elected to the state Assembly in 2024. As the Assemblymember for the Second Assembly District, he represents Sonoma, Mendocino, Humboldt, Del Norte and Trinity counties.