April 28, 2021
The Honorable Anthony Portantino
RE: SB 45 – Support
Chair, Senate Committee on Appropriations
State Capitol, Room 2206
Sacramento, CA 95814
Dear Honorable Members of the California Legislature:
On behalf of the organizations listed above, we write in support of Senate Bill 45, the Wildfire Prevention, Safe Drinking Water, Drought Preparation, and Flood Protection Bond Act of 2020, which authorizes the sale of $5.51 billion in general obligation bonds to finance projects for a wildfire prevention, safe drinking water, drought preparation, and flood protection program.
The dire threat of wildfire to Californians has seen a startling increase. Last year was the worst wildfire season on record, with over four million acres burned. While the previous five years have seen 47,000 structures and 189 lives tragically lost to wildfire. With CAL FIRE reporting almost 3,000 acres burned this year already and reports of drought beginning only four years after the last one, the trend of longer, more extreme wildfire seasons appears not to be letting up.
SB 45 will make important investments in forest health and fire resiliency and provide local communities resources to engage in proactive fire reduction projects. This will help protect Californians from the impacts of wildfire. For this reason, we support SB 45. We look forward to working together with the legislature to better protect homes, communities and residents.
Respectfully,