Bill Commons

CA SB 973

enacted

Wildfire County Coordinator Program.

California · 2025-2026 Regular Session · upper

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Quick answers

Did CA SB 973 pass?

Yes. CA SB 973 has been enacted into law. Latest recorded action (2026-09-29): Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 772, Statutes of 2026.

What is CA SB 973 about?

Existing law establishes the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force and requires the task force to develop a comprehensive implementation strategy to track and ensure the achievement of the goals and key actions identified in the state's Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan, as provided. Existing law requires, on or before March 1, 2026, and every 5 years thereafter, the task force to update the action plan. The Budget Act of 2025 provided for a community hardening program in the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection that includes home hardening certification and a wildfire county coordinator program, appropriated $9,500,000 to the department to make available to the California Fire Safe Council for the Wildfire County Coordinator Program, and required the county coordinators to prioritize home hardening, defensible space, planning, and education for community-level wildfire mitigation efforts. This bill would require the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to establish the California Wildfire Preparedness Program to (1) establish recommended guidance for the use of available wildfire risk modeling and analysis tools by organizations, as specified, (2) develop guidance and tools related to wildfire risk assessments, (3) support the development or updating of county-level wildfire risk assessments, (4) maintain oversight authority for the Wildfire County Coordinator Program, as provided, and (5) develop guidance and templates for the creation or revision of county-level wildfire preparedness prioritization and implementation plans, and accompanying guidance for integrating these plans with related wildfire resilience programs, as provided. This bill would provide in code for the Wildfire County Coordinator Program to support countywide coordination of and capacity for community wildfire mitigation, prevention, preparedness, and recovery activities, as specified. The bill would require the department to enter into an agreement with the California Fire Safe Council to administer and deliver the program. The bill would require the program to, among other things, establish capacity in participating counties to plan and execute specified activities in support of the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan and collect data on local mitigation and preparedness activities, including costs and outcomes, as provided.

Who sponsors CA SB 973?

Becker is the primary sponsor of CA SB 973, joined by 2 cosponsors.

Description

Existing law establishes the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force and requires the task force to develop a comprehensive implementation strategy to track and ensure the achievement of the goals and key actions identified in the state's Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan, as provided. Existing law requires, on or before March 1, 2026, and every 5 years thereafter, the task force to update the action plan. The Budget Act of 2025 provided for a community hardening program in the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection that includes home hardening certification and a wildfire county coordinator program, appropriated $9,500,000 to the department to make available to the California Fire Safe Council for the Wildfire County Coordinator Program, and required the county coordinators to prioritize home hardening, defensible space, planning, and education for community-level wildfire mitigation efforts. This bill would require the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to establish the California Wildfire Preparedness Program to (1) establish recommended guidance for the use of available wildfire risk modeling and analysis tools by organizations, as specified, (2) develop guidance and tools related to wildfire risk assessments, (3) support the development or updating of county-level wildfire risk assessments, (4) maintain oversight authority for the Wildfire County Coordinator Program, as provided, and (5) develop guidance and templates for the creation or revision of county-level wildfire preparedness prioritization and implementation plans, and accompanying guidance for integrating these plans with related wildfire resilience programs, as provided. This bill would provide in code for the Wildfire County Coordinator Program to support countywide coordination of and capacity for community wildfire mitigation, prevention, preparedness, and recovery activities, as specified. The bill would require the department to enter into an agreement with the California Fire Safe Council to administer and deliver the program. The bill would require the program to, among other things, establish capacity in participating counties to plan and execute specified activities in support of the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan and collect data on local mitigation and preparedness activities, including costs and outcomes, as provided.

Introduced
2026-02-04
Latest action
2026-09-29 — Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 772, Statutes of 2026.
Bill type
bill
Last updated
—

Subjects

Sponsors

  • Beckerauthor
  • Sternauthor
  • Allenprincipal coauthor

Committees

Not provided by source.

Action timeline

Newest first

  1. 2026-09-29

    Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 772, Statutes of 2026.

    became-law

  2. 2026-09-29

    Approved by the Governor.

    executive-signature

  3. 2026-09-02

    Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.

    executive-receipt

  4. 2026-08-27

    Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 39. Noes 0.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.

    amendment-passage,committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable

  5. 2026-08-26

    Ordered to special consent calendar.

  6. 2026-08-24

    Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate.

    passage,reading-1,reading-3

  7. 2026-08-24

    In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.

  8. 2026-08-24

    Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 6422.) Ordered to the Senate.

    passage,reading-1,reading-3

  9. 2026-08-17

    Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

    reading-1,reading-2,reading-3

  10. 2026-08-13

    Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading.

    amendment-passage,reading-1,reading-2

  11. 2026-08-13

    From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (August 13).

    amendment-passage,committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable

  12. 2026-08-13

    Assembly Rule 63 suspended.

  13. 2026-08-05

    August 5 set for first hearing. Placed on suspense file.

  14. 2026-06-30

    From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (June 29). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

    committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable,referral-committee

  15. 2026-06-23

    From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on E.M with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (June 22). Re-referred to Com. on E.M.

    committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable,referral-committee

  16. 2026-06-09

    From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on NAT. RES.

    amendment-passage,committee-passage,reading-1,reading-2,referral-committee

  17. 2026-06-01

    Referred to Coms. on NAT. RES. and E.M.

    referral-committee

  18. 2026-05-26

    In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk.

    reading-1

  19. 2026-05-26

    Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 4448.) Ordered to the Assembly.

    passage,reading-1,reading-3

  20. 2026-05-18

    Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

    reading-1,reading-2,reading-3

  21. 2026-05-14

    From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 0. Page 4259.) (May 14).

    amendment-passage,committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable

  22. 2026-05-14

    Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading.

    amendment-passage,reading-1,reading-2

  23. 2026-05-08

    Set for hearing May 14.

  24. 2026-05-04

    May 4 hearing: Placed on APPR. suspense file.

  25. 2026-04-24

    Set for hearing May 4.

  26. 2026-04-22

    From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 9. Noes 0. Page 3972.) (April 21). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

    committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable,referral-committee

  27. 2026-04-13

    From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on E.M.

    amendment-passage,committee-passage,reading-1,reading-2,referral-committee

  28. 2026-04-10

    Set for hearing April 21.

  29. 2026-03-24

    From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on E.M. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 3660.) (March 24). Re-referred to Com. on E.M.

    committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable,referral-committee

  30. 2026-03-11

    Set for hearing March 24.

  31. 2026-02-18

    Referred to Coms. on N.R. & W. and E.M.

    referral-committee

  32. 2026-02-05

    From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 7.

  33. 2026-02-04

    Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.

    introduction,reading-1,referral-committee

Versions

  • 02/04/26 - Introduced — 2026-02-04Compare
  • 04/13/26 - Amended Senate — 2026-04-13Compare
  • 05/14/26 - Amended Senate — 2026-05-14Compare
  • 06/09/26 - Amended Assembly — 2026-06-09Compare
  • 08/13/26 - Amended Assembly — 2026-08-13Compare
  • 08/30/26 - Enrolled — 2026-08-30Compare
  • 09/29/26 - Chaptered — 2026-09-29Compare
  • (document, no version)Compare
  • SB973Compare

Documents

Votes

  • Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Emergency Management] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar

    2026-03-24 · pass · 7-0

    Member-level votes (7)
    • Grove: yes
    • Becker: yes
    • Cabaldon: yes
    • Seyarto: yes
    • Stern: yes
    • Laird: yes
    • Allen: yes

  • Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar

    2026-04-21 · pass · 9-0

    Member-level votes (9)
    • Dahle: yes
    • Seyarto: yes
    • Allen: yes
    • Rubio: yes
    • Blakespear: yes
    • Stern: yes
    • Grayson: yes
    • Pérez: yes
    • Ashby: yes

  • Placed on suspense file

    2026-05-04 · pass · 7-0

    Member-level votes (7)
    • Dahle: yes
    • Cervantes: yes
    • Wahab: yes
    • Richardson: yes
    • Seyarto: yes
    • Cabaldon: yes
    • Grayson: yes

  • Do pass as amended

    2026-05-14 · pass · 5-0

    Member-level votes (7)
    • Wahab: yes
    • Cervantes: yes
    • Cabaldon: yes
    • Richardson: yes
    • Grayson: yes
    • Dahle: other
    • Seyarto: other

  • 3rd Reading SB973 Becker et al.

    2026-05-26 · pass · 37-0

    Member-level votes (40)
    • Cabaldon: yes
    • Seyarto: yes
    • Ashby: yes
    • Wiener: yes
    • McGuire: yes
    • Stern: yes
    • Richardson: yes
    • Laird: yes
    • Strickland: yes
    • Rubio: yes
    • Wahab: yes
    • Caballero: yes
    • Ochoa Bogh: yes
    • Padilla: yes
    • Weber Pierson: yes
    • Arreguín: yes
    • Cervantes: yes
    • Durazo: yes
    • Blakespear: yes
    • Hurtado: yes
    • Menjivar: yes
    • Valladares: yes
    • Grove: yes
    • Pérez: yes
    • Grayson: yes
    • Umberg: yes
    • Archuleta: yes
    • Allen: yes
    • McNerney: yes
    • Cortese: yes
    • Reyes: yes
    • Becker: yes
    • Smallwood-Cuevas: yes
    • Jones: yes
    • Choi: yes
    • Alvarado-Gil: yes
    • Limón: yes
    • Dahle: other
    • Niello: other
    • Gonzalez: other

  • Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Emergency Management] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar

    2026-06-22 · pass · 14-0

    Member-level votes (14)
    • Zbur: yes
    • Ellis: yes
    • Haney: yes
    • Connolly: yes
    • Bryan: yes
    • Garcia: yes
    • Macedo: yes
    • Pellerin: yes
    • Schultz: yes
    • Kalra: yes
    • Hoover: yes
    • Muratsuchi: yes
    • Wicks: yes
    • Alanis: yes

  • Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar

    2026-06-29 · pass · 6-0

    Member-level votes (7)
    • Arambula: yes
    • DeMaio: yes
    • Ransom: yes
    • Bennett: yes
    • Calderon: yes
    • Hadwick: yes
    • Bains: other

Related bills

No related bills recorded for this bill.

Official source

http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB973

Attribution

Data from openstates_api_sync, retrieved 2026-10-02T16:30:09.560363Z

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