---
type: "Bill"
title: "Prescribed fire: civil liability: cultural burns."
description: "Existing law provides that no person shall be liable for any fire suppression or other costs otherwise recoverable for a prescribed burn if specified conditions are met, including, among others, that a burn boss, as certified through a certification program developed by the State Fire Marshal, has reviewed and approved a written prescription for the burn, the burn complies with that written prescription, and either the landowner has provided written permission or the governing body of a Native American tribe has given approval, as provided. Existing law exempts cultural burns, as defined, conducted by a cultural fire practitioner, as defined, from those requirements that a person certified as a burn boss review and approve a written prescription and that the burn be conducted in compliance with the written prescription."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20232024"
identifier: "SB 310"
citation: "California SB 310 (20232024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Prescribed fire", "civil liability", "cultural burns"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Dodd"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 31
vote_count: 10
first_action: "2023-02-06"
last_action: "2024-09-27"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/fd37b497-a4ed-40ae-8e16-af0d012a00de"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB310"
source_hash: "66f6ae6ab294c8a074b57276f3d0190ee3d69b4e3d49e4ac7ea0cb41e7ada494"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California SB 310 (20232024) — Prescribed fire: civil liability: cultural burns.

Existing law provides that no person shall be liable for any fire suppression or other costs otherwise recoverable for a prescribed burn if specified conditions are met, including, among others, that a burn boss, as certified through a certification program developed by the State Fire Marshal, has reviewed and approved a written prescription for the burn, the burn complies with that written prescription, and either the landowner has provided written permission or the governing body of a Native American tribe has given approval, as provided. Existing law exempts cultural burns, as defined, conducted by a cultural fire practitioner, as defined, from those requirements that a person certified as a burn boss review and approve a written prescription and that the burn be conducted in compliance with the written prescription.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **02/06/23 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB310&version=20230SB31099INT)
2. **03/30/23 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB310&version=20230SB31098AMD)
3. **04/12/23 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB310&version=20230SB31097AMD)
4. **06/28/23 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB310&version=20230SB31096AMD)
5. **08/19/24 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB310&version=20230SB31095AMD)
6. **09/27/24 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB310&version=20230SB31093CHP)
7. **SB310** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB310)
8. **08/30/24 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB310&version=20230SB31094ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Judiciary] — **11–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] — **10–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **10–0** (pass) · lower
- Unfinished Business SB310 Dodd Concurrence — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **11–0** (pass) · upper
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- SB 310 Dodd Senate Third Reading By Wood — **77–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended. — **11–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Dodd — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2023-02-06** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2023-02-07** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 9.
- **2023-02-15** Referred to Coms. on N.R. & W. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2023-03-23** Set for hearing April 11.
- **2023-03-30** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on N.R. & W. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2023-04-11** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 11. Noes 0. Page 657.) (April 11). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-04-12** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2023-04-14** Set for hearing April 25.
- **2023-04-26** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 11. Noes 0. Page 892.) (April 25). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2023-05-01** Set for hearing May 8.
- **2023-05-08** May 8 hearing: Placed on APPR suspense file.
- **2023-05-12** Set for hearing May 18.
- **2023-05-18** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 1164.) (May 18). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-05-18** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-05-30** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 1355.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-05-31** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2023-06-15** Referred to Coms. on NAT. RES. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2023-06-27** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (June 26). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-06-28** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2023-07-06** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (July 5). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2023-08-23** August 23 set for first hearing. Placed on suspense file.
- **2023-09-01** September 1 hearing postponed by committee.
- **2024-08-15** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (August 15). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-08-19** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2024-08-20** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2024-08-26** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 6522.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2024-08-26** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2024-08-28** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 5603.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-09-04** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2024-09-27** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2024-09-27** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 666, Statutes of 2024. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/fd37b497-a4ed-40ae-8e16-af0d012a00de`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).