SB1297 - Regional wildfire partnerships.

Amended IN Senate April 14, 2026 Amended IN Senate March 25, 2026 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION Senate Bill No. 1297 Introduced by Senator Allen (Principal coauthor: Senator Stern) February 20, 2026 An act to add Article 6.1 (commencing with Section 63048.51) to Chapter 2 of Division 1 of Title 6.7 of the Government Code, and to amend Section Sections 4208 and 4208.1 of, and to add Sections 4208.2, 4208.3, and 4208.4 Section 4208.2 to, the Public Resources Code, relating to fire prevention, and making an appropriation therefor. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 1297, as amended, Allen. Regional Wildfire Mitigation Collaboratives. wildfire partnerships. Existing law establishes in the Department of Conservation the Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program to support regional leadership to build local and regional capacity and develop, prioritize, and implement strategies and projects that create fire adapted communities and landscapes by improving ecosystem health, community wildfire preparedness, and fire resilience. Existing law requires the department, upon appropriation, among other things, to provide block grants to regional entities, as defined, to develop regional strategies and projects that create fire adapted communities and landscapes, as provided. Existing law authorizes regional entities to implement collaborative planning efforts with specified local entities and develop regional priority strategies that develop and support specified goals. This bill would authorize regional entities to form regional wildfire mitigation collaboratives, consisting of specified local government entities, special districts, and tribal governments, and would further authorize these collaboratives to take the form of a joint powers authority. The bill would require these collaboratives to form cooperative agreements with specified entities, as provided. The bill would authorize the collaboratives to develop wildfire mitigation plans to implement projects across the region that mitigate against the risk of wildfire, including projects related to, among other things, structure hardening and retrofitting. The bill would require the plans to consider projects that accomplish specified goals, including, among other things, improve the availability and affordability of property insurance in the region. revise and recast the Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program. The bill would, among other things, authorize regional entities to (1) implement collaborative planning efforts with insurance companies, private and public utilities, and other private and public entities, and (2) develop regional priority strategies that develop and support fire-resistant homes, businesses, and public buildings, as provided. The bill would authorize a public regional entity, or an entity or entities designated by a public regional entity, to organize a regional wildfire partnership, defined as either a partnership between a public regional entity and specified private entities or a joint powers authority, as provided, in order to support the regional priority strategies. The bill would require a regional wildfire partnership to submit an annual report to the Department of Conservation, as provided, and would require the department to make the reports publicly available on its internet website. Existing law, the Bergeson-Peace Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank Act, establishes the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (I-Bank) within the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development and, among other things, authorizes the I-Bank to make loans, issue bonds, and provide financial assistance for various types of projects that qualify as economic development or public development facilities, as provided. This bill would authorize the I-Bank, in coordination with the Treasurer and the Department of Conservation, to issue revenue bonds to finance wildfire mitigation plans developed by regional wildfire mitigation collaboratives. regional priority strategies developed by regional wildfire partnerships. The bill would establish the Regional Wildfire Mitigation Collaborative Partnership Revolving Fund (revolving fund) in the State Treasury, require moneys generated from the sale of bonds to be deposited in the revolving fund and used exclusively to support the regional wildfire mitigation collaboratives, a regional wildfire partnership, and continuously appropriate moneys in the revolving fund to the I-Bank to support the regional wildfire mitigation collaboratives. a regional wildfire partnership. By establishing a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would require a regional wildfire mitigation collaborative regional wildfire partnership receiving funds from the I-Bank to enter into a repayment and participation agreement with the bank, specifying the funding commitments and reporting obligations. The bill would also authorize the I-Bank to provide technical assistance to regional wildfire partnerships. The bill would require a regional wildfire mitigation collaborative seeking funds from the Revolving Fund to submit a wildfire mitigation plan to the Department of Conservation. The bill would authorize the department to consult with specified state entities to review the plans according to specified criteria. The bill would make the regional wildfire mitigation collaboratives eligible for funding from the Revolving Fund upon the department’s approval of the wildfire mitigation plan. The bill would also authorize the I-Bank to provide technical assistance to regional wildfire mitigation collaboratives. Digest Key Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: YES Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO Bill Text The people of the State of California do enact as follows: SECTION 1. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) California’s wildfire crisis poses systemic risks to insurance markets, investor-owned utilities, ratepayers, and the state’s long-term fiscal outlook. (b) Wildfire prevention actions, including home hardening, defensible space, landscape-scale vegetation management, and more, are necessary to reduce the risk of loss and damage to life and property. (1) Wildfires pose an existential threat to communities in the wildland-urban interface, causing catastrophic loss of life, property, and natural resources and imposing escalating costs on homeowners, local governments, utilities, insurers, and the state. (2) Effective wildfire risk reduction requires landscape-scale, regionally coordinated investment strategies that integrate vegetation management, structure hardening, community preparedness, and infrastructure resilience. (c) (3) Current wildfire spending is insufficient to result in the needed risk reduction at the scale required. In addition, current spending is not directed enough towards structural hardening and communitywide risk reduction. (d) (4) In the 2025–26 fiscal year, the State of California spent roughly $4,000,000,000 on wildfire, 90 percent of which went towards firefighting and fire suppression, and only 10 percent towards prevention. (e) (5) In 2025, according to Stanford University researchers, investor-owned utility planned wildfire expenditures totaled more than $9,000,000,0000, to be spent primarily on distribution line right-of-way clearance. (f) Conservation finance methodologies, including pay-for-success models where public and private entities quantify the benefits associated with a planned conservation action and agree to a schedule of milestone payments based upon the action being implemented and the benefits accrued, have been successfully deployed, including in California, to raise upfront financing via bond markets. (g) It is the intent of the Legislature, on a voluntary basis, to incentivize similar financing strategies via existing programs and in a targeted manner to increase wildfire prevention in California. (6) Regional entities with established relationships, local expertise, and accountability to affected communities are best positioned to develop and implement strategies tailored to their regions’ distinct risk profiles, resources, and stakeholder networks. (7) Sustainable financing for wildfire resilience requires aligning the financial interests of the many parties that benefit from risk reduction, including local governments, water agencies, electrical corporations, insurers, reinsurers, and state and federal agencies, so that each contributor participates on terms that serve its institutional objectives. (8) Innovative financing models hold significant promise for mobilizing private capital to supplement public funding for wildland-urban interface resilience. (9) California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank financing tools, catalytic state funding, and a clear statutory framework can lower transaction costs and attract participation by entities that might otherwise lack a pathway for investment. (10) The state’s existing Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program and the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force framework provide an appropriate institutional foundation upon which to build a more comprehensive regional resilience financing system. (b) (1) It is the intent of the Legislature to incentivize, on a voluntary basis, Regional Fire and Forest Capacity Program regional entities and other capable regional organizations to develop and implement wildfire resilience financing plans through regional public-private partnerships that improve regional wildfire prevention, reduce future losses from wildfire, prioritize communitywide risk reduction, improve the availability and affordability of insurance, and reduce the risk of utility-sparked fires. (2) It is also the intent of the Legislature to achieve all of the following: (A) Provide a flexible suite of financing tools including, but not limited to, revenue bond financing that regional entities may deploy as appropriate to their circumstances. (B) Establish a catalytic state investment sufficient to demonstrate the viability of regional financing strategies and attract participation by private utilities, insurers, and other private entities. (C) Enable performance-based financing structures in which upfront capital investments are supported by multiyear revenue commitments from beneficiary entities tied to verified reductions in wildfire risk and losses. (D) Encourage private utilities, insurers, and other private entities to participate in regional wildfire resilience financing plans by creating a clear legal and institutional framework for their contributions, while preserving regulatory flexibility and recognizing each entity’s distinct institutional objectives. (E) Maintain flexibility so that regions may design programs consistent with their own circumstances, available resources, and stakeholder composition, without requiring participation by any particular entity. SEC. 2. Article 6.1 (commencing with Section 63048.51) is added to Chapter 2 of Division 1 of Title 6.7 of the Government Code, to read: Article 6.1. Regional Wildfire Mitigation Collaboratives Partnerships 63048.51. For purposes of this article, the following definitions apply: (a) “Entity” means an entity listed in paragraphs (1) to (9), inclusive, of subdivision (a) of Section 4208.2 of the Public Resources Code. (b) “Regional wildfire mitigation collaborative” means an entity formed pursuant to Section 4208.2 of the Public Resources Code. (a) “Regional wildfire partnership” or “partnership” has the same meaning as that term is defined in Section 4208 of the Public Resources Code. (c) (b) “Revolving fund” means the Regional Wildfire Mitigation Collaborative Partnership Revolving Fund established pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 63048.52. 63048.52. (a) The bank, in coordination with the Treasurer and the Department of Conservation, may issue revenue bonds to finance wildfire mitigation plans regional priority strategies developed by a regional wildfire mitigation collaboratives partnership pursuant to Article 11 (commencing with Section 4208) of Chapter 1 of Part 2 of Division 4 of the Public Resources Code. (b) A regional wildfire mitigation collaborative partnership receiving funding for a plan regional priority strategy developed pursuant to Article 11 (commencing with Section 4208) of Chapter 1 of Part 2 of Division 4 of the Public Resources Code shall enter into a repayment and participation agreement with the bank, specifying the funding commitments and reporting obligations. (c) (1) The Regional Wildfire Mitigation Collaborative Partnership Revolving Fund is hereby established in the State Treasury. Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, moneys in the revolving fund are hereby continuously appropriated to the bank without regard to fiscal year for the purposes of this article. (2) Moneys generated from the sale of bonds shall be deposited into the revolving fund. (d) The bank may distribute proceeds from the revolving fund to regional wildfire mitigation collaboratives, following approval of the collaborative’s wildfire mitigation plan pursuant to Section 4208.4 of the Public Resources Code. a partnership. (e) The bank may also provide technical assistance to regional wildfire mitigation collaboratives, including joint powers authorities. a partnership. 63048.53. (a) The bank may issue taxable or tax-exempt revenue bonds pursuant to Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 63070) to finance wildfire mitigation plans regional priority strategies developed by regional wildfire mitigation collaboratives a partnership pursuant to Article 11 (commencing with Section 4208) of Chapter 1 of Part 2 of Division 4 of the Public Resources Code. The proceeds of the bonds shall be deposited into the revolving fund, as provided in Section 63048.52, and used exclusively for the purposes of supporting wildfire mitigation plans regional priority strategies developed by regional wildfire mitigation collaboratives a partnership pursuant to Article 11 (commencing with Section 4208 4208) of Chapter 1 of Part 2 of Division 4 of the Public Resources Code). Code. Bond proceeds may also be used to fund necessary reserves, capitalized interest, or costs of issuance. (b) Bonds issued under this article shall not be deemed to constitute a debt or liability of the state or of any political subdivision of the state or a pledge of the faith and credit of the state or of any political subdivision, other than the bank, but shall be payable solely from the revolving fund and the assets of the revolving fund, and the security provided by the revolving fund. All bonds issued under this article shall contain on the face of the bonds a statement to that effect. SEC. 3. Section 4208 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read: 4208. For purposes of this article, the following definitions apply: (a) “Department” means the Department of Conservation. (b) “Eligible coordinating [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]