(a) The department and board, in consultation with the Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the State Water Resources Control Board, shall commencing December 31, 2019, and annually thereafter, review and submit a report to the Legislature on the trends in the use of, compliance with, and effectiveness of, the exemptions and emergency notice provisions described in Sections 4584 and 4592 of this code and Sections 1038 and 1052 of Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations. The report shall include an analysis of exemption use and whether the exemptions are having the intended effect. The report shall also include recommendations to improve the use of those exemptions and emergency notice provisions, information on the linear distance of road constructed or reconstructed under notices of exemption by individual ownerships, within a representative sample of planning watersheds from each forest practice district as defined in Sections 907 to 909, inclusive, of Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations, and violations associated with road reconstruction. The report shall include information on the number and type of violations and enforcement actions taken on each notice of exemption and emergency notice. The report shall also contain the number of post-treatment onsite inspections that occur and whether those inspections were attended by a representative of the Department of Fish and Wildlife and a representative of the State Water Resources Control Board. The report submitted on December 31, 2025, shall include recommendations necessary for revisions to diameter limits at stump heights of harvestable trees under subdivisions (j) and (k) of Section 4584.
(b) The public shall be provided opportunities to participate in the review and the development of the report.
(c) The report shall be submitted pursuant to Section 9795 of the Government Code.
(d) (A) This section shall be operative for a period of five years after the effective date of emergency regulations as adopted by the board and as of that date is inoperative.
(B) The board shall notify the Secretary of State when emergency regulations have been adopted.
(Amended by Stats. 2018, Ch. 626, Sec. 16. (SB 901) Effective January 1, 2019. Conditionally inoperative as prescribed by its own provisions.)