(a) (1) The department shall implement a program in urban forestry to encourage better tree management and planting in urban areas to increase integrated, multiple benefit projects by assisting urban areas with innovative solutions to problems, including reductions in the emissions of greenhouse gases, mitigation of public health impacts of poor air and water quality, mitigation of urban heat island effect, improved capture of stormwater and dry weather runoff, addressing water shortages, lack of green space, lack of urban parks that are accessible to pedestrians, vandalism, and insufficient tree maintenance, and to otherwise accomplish the purposes of this chapter.

(2) The department shall encourage demonstration projects that maximize the benefits of urban forests in conjunction with state and local agency programs to improve carbon sequestration, water conservation, energy conservation, stormwater capture and reuse, urban forest maintenance, urban parks and river parkways, school construction and improvements, school greening or sun-safe schoolyards, air quality, water quality, flood management, urban revitalization, solid waste prevention, and other projects.

(3) The department shall establish local or regional targets for urban tree canopy, with emphasis on disadvantaged communities that tend to be most vulnerable to urban heat island effect. These targets shall include urban forest diversity, tree species’ adaptability to anticipated climate change impacts, and other relevant factors.

(4) The department shall assume the primary responsibility in carrying out the intent of this chapter in cooperation with statewide and regional urban forestry organizations or associations and arboricultural organizations or associations, other private and public entities or persons, and appropriate local, state, and federal agencies, including, but not limited to, the Department of Water Resources, the California Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Fish and Game, the Department of Food and Agriculture, regional water quality control boards, regional and local air districts, the University of California Cooperative Extension, the Department of Parks and Recreation, the Department of Transportation, resource conservation districts, and the United States Forest Service.

(b) (1) The department shall be the agent of the state and shall have full power to cooperate with those agencies of the federal government that have powers and duties concerning urban forestry and shall perform all things necessary to secure the benefits of federal urban forestry programs.

(2) To facilitate implementation of this chapter, the director may enter into agreements and contracts with a public or private organization including a local agency that has urban forestry-related jurisdictional responsibilities and an established and operating urban forestry program. The director shall consult with those agencies when carrying out this chapter in their respective areas.

(c) The director shall take all feasible steps to prevent or retard the introduction, establishment, and spread of known or potentially damaging or devastating pests and diseases. Any agreement shall ensure that the department will not need additional funds to participate in the program.

(d) The department and the Department of Food and Agriculture shall cooperate in setting quarantine boundary lines and in enforcing the provisions relating to quarantine and pest abatement contained in Division 4 (commencing with Section 5001) of the Food and Agricultural Code when a quarantine is established to prevent the spread of introduced pests and diseases affecting the state’s urban forests.

(e) Whenever it is feasible to do so, the department may utilize inmates and wards assigned to conservation camps or the California Conservation Corps or certified Community Conservation Corps in implementing this chapter.

(f) The department may utilize available recipients of CalWORKs or the General Assistance Program, who are participating in state or county work experience programs for carrying out the purposes of this chapter. The participation of registrants for the welfare-to-work program under the CalWORKs program, under Article 3.2 (commencing with Section 11320) of Chapter 2 of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, shall be consistent with their participant contract requirements. A person being utilized by the department pursuant to this subdivision shall not be placed in the same crew as persons utilized pursuant to subdivision (e).

(g) The department shall develop or update regulations as necessary to implement the requirements of this section.

(Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 720, Sec. 4. (AB 1530) Effective January 1, 2018.)