AB 270 California Assembly · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Department of Forestry and Fire Protection: autonomous firefighting pilot project.

Summary

Existing law requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, in accordance with a plan approved by the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, to, among other things, provide fire prevention and firefighting implements and apparatus and organize fire crews and patrols, as provided. This bill would require the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to establish a pilot project to assess whether a firefighting helicopter equipped with autonomous aerial suppression technology can be transitioned into operational use in the State of California. The bill would also require the department to invite local, state, tribal, and federal fire agencies to participate in those familiarization and training activities. The bill would require the department to convene, within 60 days of completion of the pilot project, or January 1, 2029, whichever comes first, leading fire professionals in California to assess the performance of the pilot project and, if the pilot project meets its objectives, determine how to incorporate autonomous aerial suppression technology into existing state wildfire mitigation efforts. The bill would require an operator of autonomous aerial suppression technology that is part of the pilot project and that is required to submit reports to local or federal agencies about autonomous aerial suppression technology to also provide those reports to the department and the Legislature, as provided. The bill would include related legislative findings.

Bill status failed 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 21, 2025 Last action Feb 2, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 3 comparisons

What changed between versions

05/05/25 - Amended Assembly → AB270 · 1 edit

MINOR

This diff reflects a formatting and presentation change rather than a substantive policy change. The bill text of AB 270 (autonomous firefighting pilot project) is identical in both versions; the difference is that the document was converted from a traditional legislative PDF layout with line numbers and page headers to a web-based presentation format with navigation menus, search tools, and version selection options.

TECHNICAL

The bill was reformatted from a traditional legislative document layout (with line numbers, page headers like 'AB 270 -2-', and column formatting) to a web-based page layout including navigation elements (skip to content, home, accessibility, FAQ, feedback, sitemap, login), a quick search bar, version selector showing all three versions of the bill, and a 'Date Published' timestamp.

01/21/25 - Introduced → 04/03/25 - Amended Assembly · 5 edits · Apr 3, 2025

MODERATE

AB 270 was substantially amended to shift primary responsibility for the autonomous firefighting helicopter pilot from the Office of Emergency Services to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire), adding a new Article 4.6 to the Public Resources Code. The amendment adds requirements for Cal Fire to invite local, state, tribal, and federal fire agencies to participate in training, and to convene fire professionals within 60 days of project completion to assess results and plan integration into existing wildfire mitigation efforts.

Scope change

The bill's scope expanded from a single-agency pilot under OES to a multi-stakeholder pilot project under Cal Fire that explicitly involves local, state, tribal, and federal fire agencies in training and post-project assessment, with a built-in pathway for scaling the technology into statewide wildfire mitigation if successful.

SCOPE

The responsible agency shifted from the Office of Emergency Services (Government Code) to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Public Resources Code, new Article 4.6, Section 4149). The original Government Code section appears to remain but a parallel Cal Fire obligation was added.

REQUIREMENT

Cal Fire must invite local, state, tribal, and federal fire agencies and personnel to participate in the familiarization and training activities of the pilot project.

TIMELINE

Within 60 days after completion of the pilot project, Cal Fire must convene leading fire professionals in California (including stakeholders from local, state, tribal, and federal agencies) to assess performance and, if objectives are met, determine how to incorporate autonomous aerial suppression technology into existing state wildfire mitigation efforts.

DEFINITION

The legislative findings were expanded to reference 'autonomous aerial suppression technology' specifically and added language about increasing suppression capabilities through operational safety, firefighting effectiveness, and mission efficiency.

TECHNICAL

Terminology changed from 'pilot program' (Government Code section) to 'pilot project' (Public Resources Code section), and the helicopter is now described as being 'equipped with autonomous aerial suppression technology' rather than simply an 'autonomous firefighting helicopter'.

04/03/25 - Amended Assembly → 05/05/25 - Amended Assembly · 6 edits · May 5, 2025

MODERATE

The bill was substantially revised to shift responsibility for the autonomous firefighting pilot project from the Office of Emergency Services to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire), reframe the project as an assessment rather than a deployment commitment, add a hard deadline of January 1, 2029 for convening fire professionals, specify performance metrics for evaluating the pilot, and create a new reporting requirement that operators must share federal safety reports with the department and Legislature.

Scope change

The bill moved from the Government Code (Office of Emergency Services) to the Public Resources Code (Department of Forestry and Fire Protection), placing the pilot project under Cal Fire's authority rather than OES. The project was also reframed from a deployment commitment to an assessment of operational readiness.

SCOPE

The responsible agency changed from the Office of Emergency Services (Government Code) to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Public Resources Code, Article 4.6). The pilot project is now a Cal Fire program rather than an OES program.

REQUIREMENT

The pilot project purpose was reframed from equipping the state with a testbed helicopter to assessing whether a firefighting helicopter with autonomous aerial suppression technology can be transitioned into operational use. This shifts the goal from deployment to evaluation.

Specific performance metrics were added for assessing the pilot project, including: ability to perform in varying wind conditions, safety enhancement mechanisms such as detection of people and equipment in the drop zone, time spent in autonomous versus manually controlled modes, number of participating agencies and personnel, and ability to operate within Fire Traffic Area operations management including coordination with human-piloted aircraft.

TIMELINE

A hard deadline of January 1, 2029 was added as the outer limit for convening leading fire professionals after the pilot project completes (previously only 'within 60 days after completion' with no outside date).

ENFORCEMENT

A new reporting requirement was added: operators of autonomous aerial suppression technology in the pilot project who must submit reports to the FAA, NTSB, or other federal/local agencies must also provide those reports to Cal Fire and the Legislature within 30 days. For incident investigations, reports are due at completion but no later than six months after the incident. Reports must include significant safety incidents, accidents, circumstances, and whether damage, injury, or death resulted.

DEFINITION

The legislative finding on autonomous firefighting aircraft was shortened, removing language about scaling response capacity, expanding operations to night and degraded conditions, and reducing response time through prepositioned uncrewed aircraft. The new finding focuses more narrowly on increasing suppression capabilities through safety, effectiveness, and efficiency.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Feb 2, 2026

Lower · Passed

From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56.

lower

May 23, 2025

Lower · Passed

In committee: Held under submission.

lower

May 14, 2025

Committee

In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to suspense file.

lower

May 6, 2025

Committee

Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

lower

May 5, 2025

Lower · Passed

Read second time and amended.

lower

May 1, 2025

Introduced

From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (May 1).

lower

Apr 8, 2025

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on P. & C.P. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (April 7). Re-referred to Com. on P. & C.P.

lower

Apr 7, 2025

Committee

Re-referred to Com. on E.M.

lower

Apr 3, 2025

Introduced

From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on E.M. Read second time and amended.

lower

Feb 10, 2025

Committee

Referred to Coms. on E.M and P. & C.P.

lower

Jan 22, 2025

Lower · Passed

From printer. May be heard in committee February 21.

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors