BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 491|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 491
Author: Miller (R)
Amended: 7/6/12 in Senate
Vote: 21
PRIOR VOTES NOT RELEVANT
SUBJECT : Public roads: fire suppression
SOURCE : Orange County Board of Supervisors
DIGEST : This bill, grants until January 1, 2017, a
county board of supervisors authority to improve or repair
a public road that is not a county highway and is not in
the county-maintained system, if the improvements or
repairs are necessary for the purpose of fire suppression.
NOTE: This bill is identical to AB 1309 (Miller) as
amended 6/27/11, which passed the Senate
Transportation and Housing Committee
9-0 on 7/5/11. AB 1309 was subsequently amended
into a bill pertaining to the U.C. Riverside Medical
School.
ANALYSIS : Existing law allows, if a state of local
emergency due to heavy rainfall or flood is declared, a
county board of supervisors to authorize the expenditure of
road funds for the purpose of emergency repairs to public
roads that are not county highways and not in the
county-maintained system. A board may take such action
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without obtaining a grant or lease of right-of-way, if the
repairs are necessary to provide minimum public access for
the protection or preservation of the health or safety of
residents. Existing law deems the county shall not be
responsible for the maintenance of these roads after they
are repaired and relieves the county of liability for the
condition of the road after the emergency repairs are made.
Existing law also allows county boards of supervisors to
improve or repair a privately-owned road of general county
interest, after adopting a resolution by a four-fifths vote
of their membership and if the owner grants or leases the
right-of-way for the purpose of improvements or repairs.
Such improvements or repairs must be made and paid for in
the same manner as improvements to or repairs of county
highways.
This bill:
1. Allows a county board of supervisors, by adopting a
resolution with four-fifths vote of its membership, to
improve or repair a public road that is not a county
highway and is not in the county-maintained system, if
the improvements or repairs are necessary for the
purpose of fire suppression.
2. Requires that the improvements or repairs be made and
paid for in the same manner as improvements or repairs
of county highways, but does not require that the road
become a county highway.
3. Repeals the authority on January 1, 2017.
Comments
This bill authorizes the county boards of supervisors to
vote to appropriate funds to make necessary, preventative
improvements or repairs to public, non-county-maintained
roads for the purposes of fire suppression, in advance of a
declaration of a local state of emergency due to fire. The
author's office states that existing law only enables a
board of supervisors to authorize such funds when there is
a declared local emergency due to heavy rainfall or
flooding and when the repairs are necessary to provide
minimum public access for the protection or preservation of
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the health and safety of its residents.
The sponsor of this bill, the Orange County Board of
Supervisors, provides an example of Black Star Canyon Road.
On August 12, 2010, county counsel discussed the
possibility for the road to become a county highway through
common law dedication. The matter remains unresolved,
however, because in 1987, the county declared the roadway a
non-maintained county highway and closed the road to public
motor vehicles. During the 2007 Santiago Fire,
fire-fighting equipment could not traverse Black Star
Canyon Road because the road includes three bridges that
would not have supported the equipment. This bill allows
for preventative improvements to be made on a public road
for the purpose of fire suppression, prior to a declaration
of a fire emergency, by allowing the county to use public
road funds.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/13/12)
Orange County Board of Supervisors (source)
Regional Council of Rural Counties
JJA:d 8/13/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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