Assembly BillPassed first houseGovernment
AB 372: Office of Emergency Services: state matching funds: water system infrastructure improvements.
What AB 372 does, verified December 7, 2025
This bill establishes a program to improve water system infrastructure in urban wildland interface communities to increase wildfire resilience. The program will distribute state matching funds to communities in high fire hazard severity zones or very high fire hazard severity zones. The program will require coordination with various state entities, including the Department of Water Resources and the Office of the State Fire Marshal. The program will prioritize the distribution of funds based on specified criteria, such as community needs and infrastructure conditions. The goal of the program is to help communities prepare for and respond to wildfires, and to reduce the risk of damage to water systems.
Bill journey
✓IntroducedComplete
✓In CommitteeComplete
✓First Chamber FloorComplete
4Second ChamberCurrent
5GovernorPending
6ChapteredPending
Last action: Ordered to inactive file at the request of Senator Allen. (2025-06-02)Alert me
Author and sponsors
Full contact details, staff, and committees with Connect, $16/moUnlockRecent actions22 total · showing 5
| Sep. 03, 2025 | Ordered to inactive file at the request of Senator Allen. |
| Sep. 02, 2025 | Read second time. Ordered to third reading. |
| Aug. 29, 2025 | Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. |
| Aug. 29, 2025 | From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 29). |
| Aug. 18, 2025 | In committee: Referred to suspense file. |
Latest bill textAmended version, August 29, 2025 · 1,110 words
| Amended IN Senate August 29, 2025 |
| Amended IN Assembly April 21, 2025 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 372
| Introduced by Assembly Member Bennett |
February 03, 2025 |
An act to add Section 8586.10 to the Government Code, relating to emergency services.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 372, as amended, Bennett. Office of Emergency Services: state matching funds: water system infrastructure improvements.
Existing law establishes, within the office of the Governor, the Office of Emergency Services (OES), under the direction of the Director of Emergency Services. Existing law charges the OES with coordinating various emergency activities within the state. The California Emergency Services Act, contingent upon an appropriation by the Legislature, requires the OES to enter into a joint powers agreement pursuant to the Joint Exercise of Powers Act with the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to develop and administer a comprehensive wildfire mitigation program relating to structure hardening and retrofitting and prescribed fuel modification activities. Existing law authorizes the joint powers authority to establish financial assistance limits and matching funding or other recipient contribution requirements for the program, as provided.
This bill, contingent on funding being appropriated pursuant to a specified bond act, upon appropriation by the Legislature, would establish the Rural Water Infrastructure for Wildfire Resilience Program within the OES for the distribution of state matching funds to urban wildland interface communities, as defined, in designated high fire hazard severity zones or very high fire hazard severity zones to improve water system infrastructure, as prescribed. The bill would require the OES to work in coordination with the Department of Water Resources, the State Water Resources Control Board, the Office of the State Fire Marshal, and other state entities as the OES determines to be appropriate, to achieve the purposes of the program. The bill would require the OES to develop criteria and a scoring methodology to prioritize the distribution of state matching funds provided under the program to rural communities based upon specified criteria.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) California’s rural landscapes and communities have been ground zero for large-scale environmental and economic devastation during the past decades by virtue of the Angora, Caldor, Camp, August Complex, and Dixie Fires.
(b) Aging water infrastructure, combined with insufficient resources to prepare for adequate wildfire response, have left many rural communities at high risk for future unchecked fire activity.
(c) More than 2,000,000 California households, approximately one in four residential structures in California, are located within or in wildfire movement proximity to high or very high fire hazard severity zones identified on maps created by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
(d) Postfire costs associated with the destruction inflicted upon communities such as Grizzly Flats, Paradise, and Greenville have been in the tens of billions of dollars.
(e) Congress has taken affirmative fiscal action by budgeting for funding last year and is poised to repeat that action this year, as evidenced in House Report 117-400, to invest in fire prevention activities in the Tahoe Basin and elsewhere through projects such as water delivery system improvements for expanded water flow and fire hydrant installation.
(f) While California is taking the necessary actions to mitigate the intensity and frequency of fire in the rural parts of the state, local governments need state support for necessary water infrastructure investments to prepare for and aid in fire suppression capacity.
SEC. 2.
Section 8586.10 is added to the Government Code, immediately following Section 8586.9, to read:8586.10.
(a) As used in this section:(1) “Office” means the Office of Emergency Services.
(2) “Rural Water Infrastructure for Wildfire Resilience Program” or “program” means the Rural Water Infrastructure for Wildfire Resilience Program established in subdivision (b).
(b) The Rural Water Infrastructure for Wildfire Resilience Program is hereby established within the office for the distribution of state matching funds to urban wildland interface communities, as defined in Section 13108.5 of the Health and Safety Code, in high fire hazard severity zones or very high fire hazard severity zones designated by the State Fire Marshal pursuant to Article 9 (commencing with Section 4201) of Chapter 1 of Part 2 of Division 4 of the Public Resources Code or by a local agency pursuant to Chapter 6.8 (commencing with Section 51175) of Part 1 of Division 1 of Title 5, to improve water system infrastructure, for purposes consistent with the services and improvements to aid in the protection of property from fire, as described in Section 53750.5. Improvements described in this subdivision include, but are not limited to, all of the following:
(1) Upgrading and upsizing waterlines.
(2) Installing additional fire hydrants connected to water systems.
(3) Enhancing water system delivery and distribution capacity.
(4) Creating interconnections between water systems for the purpose of improving water delivery and distribution capacity.
(5) Backup power generation.
(c) The office shall work in coordination with the Department of Water Resources, the State Water Resources Control Board, the Office of the State Fire Marshal, and other state entities as the office determines to be appropriate, to achieve the purposes of the program.
(d) The office shall develop criteria and a scoring methodology to prioritize the distribution of state matching funds provided under the program to rural communities based upon criteria that include, but are not limited to, all of the following:
(1) Community water systems that maintain 15,000 water service connections or fewer.
(2) Water infrastructure improvements and projects to aid in fire suppression for properties located near outstanding national resource waters, headwaters, or both, as those terms are used in the federal Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. Sec. 1251 et seq.).
(3) Water infrastructure improvements and projects to aid in fire suppression that are identified in, and consistent with one or more of, the following plans:
(A) A community wildfire protection plan, a California Fire Safe Council action plan, a National Fire Protection Association’s Firewise USA Community Wildfire Risk Assessment, a local hazard mitigation plan, or other local plan that addresses the hazards and risks from wildfire.
(B) A community water system master plan, hydraulic modeling, or professional engineering reports showing the need for and impact of proposed improvements.
(e) The operation of this section is contingent upon funding being appropriated by the Legislature to the Office of Emergency Services pursuant to the Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024, approved by the voters at the November 5, 2024, statewide general election, for purposes consistent with the Rural Water Infrastructure for Wildfire Resilience Program authorized under this section.
Text of AB 372 as amended, from the official record. Connect Plus keeps every version and highlights what changed.Compare versions