Vote NO on SB 1370 — Don't Gut Environmental Protections for Chaparral

Vote NO on SB 1370 when it comes before the Assembly Appropriations Committee tomorrow, August 13. This bill, authored by Senators Stern and Becker, would waive nearly every environmental protection law to allow clearance of up to 3,000 acres of chaparral and forest habitat — and it would do so with zero meaningful oversight. The wildfire prevention framing is a cover story. Clearing native chaparral and replacing it with non-native grasses actually increases landscape flammability, since those grasses are responsible for nearly all wildfire ignitions. Meanwhile, the bill strips away the legal tools that force Cal Fire and other agencies to follow the science. It waives herbicide protections, guts biodiversity safeguards, and funnels fire funds away from at-risk communities toward logging operations that benefit the timber and biomass industries. Our current environmental laws exist precisely because these agencies have repeatedly shown they won't follow the facts without being required to. California doesn't have to choose between wildfire safety and environmental protection — that's a false choice SB 1370 is selling. Please hold this bill in committee.