February 13, 2019 - Presented to: Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 3 on Resources and Transportation and Assembly Committee on Natural Resources
February 5, 2021 - This publication provides detailed information and our initial comments on each component of the Governor's 2021-22 package of proposals—totaling $1 billion—to reduce the risk of severe and damaging wildfires. (See also our publication The 2021-22 Budget: Wildfire Resilience Package for an overview of and our initial comments on the package.)
February 21, 2020 - While wildfires have always been a natural part of California’s ecosystems, recent increases in the severity of wildfires and the adverse impacts on communities have increased the focus on the state’s ability to effectively prevent, mitigate, and respond to wildfire risks. This report has two parts. First, we assess the state’s approach to addressing wildfire risks in light of the complex challenges that make an efficient and effective approach difficult. Second, we evaluate the Governor’s various wildfire‑related budget proposals in the absence of having a statewide strategic wildfire plan.
April 23, 2025 - Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 4 on Climate Crisis, Resources, Energy and Transportation
January 28, 2025 - This post answers commonly asked questions related to wildfires in the state of California.
November 15, 2018 - In this post, we provide a summary of how CalFire is spending Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund dollars provided in the 2017-18 budget package. We focus primarily on CalFire’s Forest Health Program, and identify issues for the Legislature to consider as it oversees and guides future expenditures of forest health funding.
December 13, 2021 - In recent years, as wildfires have increased in severity and damage, the Legislature has shown growing interest in state support of wildfire prevention efforts, including regional planning for forest health activities. The Regional Forest and Fire Capacity program (RFFC)—created in 2018—provides non‑competitive block grants to state conservancies, resource conservation districts, and other entities to facilitate regional coordination for forest health and wildfire resilience. These grants are intended to support regional planning, project development, demonstration projects, and community outreach. To implement these activities, grant recipients coordinate with and distribute funds to partnering entities within their regions. We prepared this report to provide an early review of RFFC’s implementation.
January 26, 2022 - In this brief, we provide our initial assessment and recommendations in response to the Governor's wildfire resilience package, which would provide $1.2 billion over two years (including $800 million of new funding) for proposals intended to reduce the risk of severe and damaging wildfires.
September 12, 2024 - The 2024‑25 budget package provides a total of $17.8 billion from various fund sources—the General Fund, a number of special funds, bond funds, and federal funds—for the departments overseen by the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) and California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA). This amount represents about half of total 2023‑24 estimated expenditure levels. This significant year-to-year decrease is primarily due to a large amount of one-time funding—mostly from the General Fund—available for the departments within both agencies in 2023‑24, including large amounts of funds carried over from prior years. As discussed in this post, many departments continue to receive some one-time funding augmentations in 2024‑25, but at notably lower aggregate levels. Despite the year-to-year decline in funding, the 2024‑25 totals exceed the historical levels of funding that these agencies received prior to the state experiencing General Fund surpluses in recent years.
February 14, 2019 - In this report, we assess several of the Governor’s budget proposals in the natural resources and environmental protection areas. Based on our review, we recommend various changes, as well as additional legislative oversight. We provide a complete listing of our recommendations at the end of this report.
February 5, 2021 - This publication provides an overview of and our initial comments on the Governor's 2021-22 package of proposals—totaling $1 billion—to reduce the risk of severe and damaging wildfires. (See also our publication The 2021-22 Budget: Wildfire Resilience Package—Analysis of Individual Programs for more detailed information and comments on each component of the package.)
November 14, 2022 - In this report, we (1) summarize trends in wildfires and associated smoke; (2) review research on the health and other effects of wildfire smoke, including on vulnerable groups; (3) discuss local, state, and federal roles and responsibilities related to smoke, as well as actions that the state currently is undertaking to address it; and (4) provide some guidance to the Legislature as it formulates its approach to addressing smoke in the coming years.