AB 3074 in California: counties, enforcement, and local ordinances.

AB 3074's scope across California

AB 3074 amended California Public Resources Code §4291 and applies wherever §4291 applies — to structures in designated Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones (VHFHSZ) across California. That's a meaningful constraint: roughly 35 California counties contain VHFHSZ acreage, but most California population centers are partially covered rather than fully covered. Many homeowners live in or adjacent to VHFHSZ areas without realizing it.

The Office of the State Fire Marshal publishes the official Fire Hazard Severity Zone viewer — the authoritative way to check whether AB 3074 applies to a specific property.

California fire jurisdiction: SRA, LRA, and FRA

California fire jurisdiction is split into three categories that determine who enforces AB 3074 for a given property:

• State Responsibility Areas (SRA). CAL FIRE has primary fire-protection responsibility. Most California rural and wildland-adjacent properties are in SRAs. CAL FIRE enforces PRC §4291 (including the AB 3074 Zone 0 amendment) in SRAs.
• Local Responsibility Areas (LRA). Local fire departments have primary fire-protection responsibility. Most incorporated California cities are LRAs. Local fire departments (sometimes coordinating with CAL FIRE) enforce in LRAs, and may add their own local ordinances on top of the state baseline.
• Federal Responsibility Areas (FRA). Federally owned land (National Forests, BLM land, National Parks). AB 3074 applies to private structures on or adjacent to FRA land, with federal agencies coordinating with state and local enforcement.

The practical implication: same statute, different enforcement agency depending on whether your address is in an SRA, LRA, or FRA. The SRA/LRA designation is independent of the VHFHSZ designation — it's a separate map.

Local ordinances stricter than AB 3074

California fire code allows local jurisdictions to adopt defensible space rules stricter than the state baseline. AB 3074 establishes the floor, not the ceiling. Several California jurisdictions have already adopted Zone 0-equivalent local ordinances ahead of the state rulemaking finalizing:

Marin County

Marin County has had a Zone 0-equivalent local ordinance in force since 2021 — adopted shortly after AB 3074 became state law and well ahead of the state rulemaking finishing. The Marin ordinance is generally considered the most stringent locally-adopted Zone 0 framework in California and is often cited as the model for what the finalized state regulations may look like.

East Bay hillside cities

Berkeley, Oakland, Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga, and El Cerrito (Alameda and Contra Costa counties) have layered defensible space ordinances on top of the state baseline. These cities suffered significant loss in the 1991 Oakland Hills fire and have maintained active local fire-prevention programs ever since.

City of San Diego

San Diego issued homeowner guidance in February 2026 setting a voluntary Zone 0 compliance target of February 2027 — explicitly ahead of the state rulemaking process. The guidance is voluntary today, but signals the direction local enforcement will take when the state regulations are final.

City of Pasadena

Pasadena's Fire Department published guidance targeting 2029 for existing-home Zone 0 compliance — consistent with the timeline the state rulemaking has been drafting for non-VHFHSZ properties.

Sierra-foothill jurisdictions

Several Sierra-foothill counties (Placer, El Dorado, Nevada) and incorporated cities within them (Auburn, Truckee, Grass Valley, Nevada City) operate active local defensible space inspection programs and have layered ordinances on top of the state framework.

The Board of Forestry's enforcement framework

The California Board of Forestry & Fire Protection is the rulemaking body responsible for finalizing the AB 3074 implementing regulations. Their draft framework (most recent: April 2026 subcommittee release) outlines the operational enforcement model:

• Education-first phase. Initial enforcement emphasizes homeowner education and voluntary compliance rather than penalties. CAL FIRE inspectors will note Zone 0 issues and issue corrective notices, but penalty issuance will be limited during the early years.
• Phased compliance for existing homes. New construction in VHFHSZ must comply on adoption. Existing homes are phased in based on hazard zone and jurisdiction — current drafts suggest 2027 for VHFHSZ existing homes and later dates for High and Moderate hazard zones in jurisdictions that adopt them.
• Penalty schedule. The current draft contemplates $100–$500 per day per violation, with potential mandatory abatement at the owner's cost.
• Local coordination. The state framework explicitly contemplates local jurisdictions maintaining stricter rules where they exist — AB 3074's implementing regulations are a floor, not a preemption.

How the California Department of Insurance uses AB 3074

The California Department of Insurance (CDI) is the regulatory body for insurance carriers operating in California. CDI's coordination with AB 3074 has moved much faster than the Board of Forestry's formal rulemaking.

Key CDI actions:

• Insurance Bulletin 2022-08 required California insurers to offer wildfire mitigation discounts for documented compliance with defensible space requirements — including the AB 3074 Zone 0 framework. Carriers writing new policies in VHFHSZ areas must offer discounts to homeowners who can document Zone 0 compliance.
• Sustainable Insurance Strategy (2024-2025) tied carriers' ability to use catastrophe modeling in rate-setting to commitments to write coverage in wildfire-distressed areas — including areas where AB 3074 applies.
• Standard claim-handling guidance incorporates AB 3074 compliance status as a factor carriers may consider during loss adjustment, though there are limits on retroactive use against policyholders who were already covered.

For the carrier-specific picture of how this plays out for homeowners, see Farmers, State Farm, and the California Defensible-Space Crackdown.

How AB 3074 affects California real estate

AB 3074 has reshaped California residential real estate transactions in several ways:

• Mandatory disclosure. Sellers of property in a VHFHSZ must disclose known defensible space deficiencies, which now includes Zone 0 issues.
• Buyer contingencies. Buyer's agents in VHFHSZ areas increasingly write defensible space inspection contingencies into purchase contracts.
• Appraisal impact. Some California appraisers are applying value adjustments for non-compliant VHFHSZ properties — particularly when the buyer's lender requires defensible space documentation as a condition of the loan.
• Lender requirements. Some California mortgage lenders require evidence of defensible space compliance as a condition of loan funding for VHFHSZ purchases or refinances.

What homeowners should do today

Three actions for any California homeowner in or adjacent to a VHFHSZ:

1. Look up your property on the OSFM map. Confirm whether AB 3074 currently applies to you.
2. Check your local fire department's ordinance. If your jurisdiction has adopted stricter local rules, those apply on top of (or ahead of) the state framework.
3. Run the free Zone 0 readiness check. The 12-item AB 3074 framework against your property, with the gaps listed and an estimated cost range. Start the check →

Status as of May 2026. Sources: California Public Resources Code §4291; AB 3074 (2020); California Board of Forestry & Fire Protection; California Department of Insurance Insurance Bulletin 2022-08; local jurisdiction ordinance adoption records.