BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 1241 Page 1 Date of Hearing: June 13, 2012 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT Cameron Smyth, Chair SB 1241 (Kehoe) - As Amended: June 7, 2012 SENATE VOTE : 29-9 SUBJECT : Land use: general plan: safety element: fire hazard impacts. SUMMARY : Requires cities and counties to address fire risk for state responsibility areas and very high fire hazard severity zones in general plan updates and subdivision approvals, and requires the Office of Planning and Research (OPR) to update the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines and the General Plan Guidelines, as specified. Specifically, this bill : 1)Requires OPR, when it adopts its next edition of the General Plan Guidelines pursuant to existing law, to include specified provisions or a reference to provisions mandating the update of the safety element, and any other materials related to fire hazards or fire safety it deems appropriate. 2)Requires cities and counties, upon the next revision of the housing element on or after January 1, 2013, to review and update the safety element as necessary to address the risk of fire for land classified as state responsibility areas (SRAs), and land classified as very high fire hazard severity zones; requires the review to consider the advice included in OPR's most recent publication of "Fire Hazard Planning, General Technical Advice Series;" and, requires the review to also include all of the following: a) Information regarding fire hazards, including, but not limited to, all of the following: i) Fire hazard severity zone maps available from the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE); ii) Any historical data on wildfires available from local agencies or a reference to where the data can be found; SB 1241 Page 2 iii) Information about wildfire hazard areas that may be available from the United States Geological Survey; iv) General location and distribution of existing and planned uses of land in very high fire hazard severity zones and in SRAs, including the structures, roads, utilities, and essential public facilities. The location and distribution of planned uses of land shall not require defensible space compliance measures required by state law or local ordinance to occur on publicly owned lands or open space designations of homeowner associations; and, v) Local, state, and federal agencies with responsibility for fire protection, including special districts and local offices of emergency services. b) A set of goals, policies and objectives based on the information identified above in 2a) for the protection of the community from unreasonable risk of wildfire; c) A set of feasible implementation measures designed to carry out the goals, policies, and objectives based on the information identified pursuant to 2b) including, but not limited to, all of the following: i) Avoiding or minimizing the wildfire hazards associated with new uses of land; ii) Locating, when feasible, new essential public facilities outside of high fire risk areas, including, but not limited to, hospitals and health care facilities, emergency shelters, emergency command centers, and emergency communications facilities, or identifying construction methods or other methods to minimize damage if these facilities are located in an SRA or very high fire hazard severity zone; iii) Designing adequate infrastructure if a new development is located in an SRA or in a very high fire hazard severity zone, including safe access for emergency response vehicles, visible street signs, and water supplies for structural fire suppression; and, iv) Working cooperatively with public agencies with SB 1241 Page 3 responsibility for fire protection. d) If a city or county has adopted a fire safety plan or document separate from the general plan, an attachment of, or reference to, a city or county's adopted fire safety plan or document that fulfills commensurate goals and objectives and contains information required pursuant to the bill's provisions. 3)Requires the legislative body of a county to make the following three findings before approving a tentative map, or a parcel map for which a tentative map is not required, for an area located in an SRA or a very high fire hazard severity zone: a) A finding supported by substantial evidence in the record that the design and location of each lot in the subdivision, and the subdivision as a whole, are consistent with any applicable regulations adopted by the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection pursuant to existing law; b) A finding supported by substantial evidence in the record that structural fire protection and suppression services will be available for the subdivision through any of the following entities: i) A county, city, special district, political subdivision of the state, or another entity organized solely to provide fire protection services that is monitored and funded by a county or other public entity; or, ii) CAL FIRE, by contract entered into pursuant to existing law, as specified. c) A finding to the extent practicable, ingress and egress for the subdivision meets the regulations regarding road standards for fire equipment access adopted pursuant to existing law and any applicable local ordinance. 4)Provides that the provisions of 3) above shall not supersede regulations established by the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection or local ordinances that provide equivalent or more stringent minimum requirements. SB 1241 Page 4 5)Requires, on or after January 1, 2013, OPR, in cooperation with CAL FIRE, at the time of the next review of the CEQA guidelines, to prepare, develop, and transmit to the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency recommended proposed changes or amendments to the initial study checklist of the guidelines for the inclusion of questions related to fire hazard impacts for project on land classified as an SRA, and on lands classified as very high fire hazard severity zones. 6)Requires the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, upon receipt and review, to certify and adopt the recommended proposed changes or amendments prepared and developed by the OPR to the CEQA guidelines. 7)Provides that no reimbursement is required by the bill's provisions because a local agency has the authority to levy service charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or level of service. EXISTING LAW : 1)Defines SRAs to mean areas of the state in which the financial responsibility of preventing and suppressing fires has been determined, as specified, to be primarily the responsibility of the state. 2)Defines lands classified as a very high fire hazard severity zone to mean an area designated by the director of CAL FIRE, as specified, that is not an SRA. 3)Requires the director of CAL FIRE to identify areas in the state as very high fire hazard severity zones based on consistent statewide criteria and the severity of fire hazard that is expected to prevail in those areas as determined by fuel loading, slope, fire weather, and other relevant factors. 4)Requires the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to identify as SRAs all lands where the state has the primary financial responsibility for preventing and suppressing fires. 5)Requires the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to map SRAs and provide this map to county assessors and update this map every five years. SB 1241 Page 5 6)Excludes from SRAs, federal lands and lands within the exterior boundaries of any city, except a city and county with a population of less than 25,000 if, at the time the city and county government is established, the county contains no municipal corporations. 7)Requires CAL FIRE, within SRAs, to provide wildland fire prevention and firefighting personnel and equipment, and may provide rescue, first aid, and other emergency services if the activity does not require additional funds. 8)Requires the director of CAL FIRE to classify and update or reclassify, if necessary, SRAs into fire hazard severity zones for the purposes of fire prevention and suppression. 9)Requires local governments to adopt a general plan that includes, among other things, a safety element, and requires a local government with SRAs or a very high fire hazard severity zone to submit a draft safety element to the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection for its review and comment prior to its adoption or amendment. 10)Regulates, through the Subdivision Map Act, how local officials approve the conversion of larger parcels into marketable lots. 11)Requires, under CEQA, lead agencies with the principal responsibility for carrying out or approving a proposed discretionary project to prepare a negative declaration, mitigated declaration, or environmental impact report (EIR) for this action, unless the project is exempt from CEQA (CEQA includes various statutory exemptions, as well as categorical exemptions in the CEQA guidelines). 12)Requires, under CEQA, an initial study to be prepared to determine whether a project may have a significant effect on the environment. 13)Requires OPR to prepare and develop proposed guidelines to implement CEQA, and submit them to the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency for certification and adoption. 14)Requires OPR to review CEQA guidelines at least every two years and recommend changes or amendments to the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency for certification and adoption. SB 1241 Page 6 FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, this bill contains ongoing costs between $100,000 and $250,000 from the General Fund from 2013-14 through 2018-19, for the Board of Forestry to review safety element updates as required by this bill, and one-time costs of $285,000 from the General Fund for 2013-14 for the update of CEQA guidelines. COMMENTS : 1)In 2005, the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) reported that there are 31 million acres in SRAs and that local land use decisions are responsible for the increased density of homes in the wildland-urban interface. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the number of people living in inland Southern California's most fire-prone places alone increased by more than 50% during the past decade. 2)Every county and city must adopt a general plan with seven mandatory elements: land use, circulation, housing, conservation, open space, noise, and safety. Except for the housing elements, the Planning and Zoning Law does not require counties and cities to regularly revise their general plans. Cities and counties' major land use decisions -- subdivisions, zoning, public works projects, use permits -- must be consistent with their general plans. Development decisions must carry out and not obstruct a general plan's policies. In the aftermath of annual wildfires, state and local officials have thought about how to reduce the loss of lives and property and address high costs of local fire protection agencies when fighting wildfires in developed areas. One way to avoid or mitigate these losses and costs is to use land use planning to guide decisions about future development. 3)CAL FIRE provides wildland fire protection on non-federal lands outside cities. To meet this duty, the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection designates SRAs every five years. Within SRA lands, the Director of CAL FIRE designates fire hazard severity zones. SRA landowners must follow specified fire prevention practices. After the 1991 Oakland-Berkeley fire storm, the Legislature required CAL FIRE to designate very high fire hazard severity zones. Landowners in these areas must follow specified fire prevention practices. 4)This bill requires a city or county to review and update the safety element in the general plan upon the next revision of SB 1241 Page 7 the housing element on or after January 1, 2013, to include information regarding local fire hazards, and feasible implementation measures for the protection of designated areas from wildfire hazards for lands located in SRAs or very high fire hazard severity zones. Second, the bill requires OPR, in its next update of the CEQA Guidelines, to cooperate with CAL FIRE in recommending changes to the CEQA initial study checklist to include questions related to fire hazard impacts for projects in SRAs or very high fire hazard severity zone lands, and requires OPR, in its update of the General Plan Guidelines to include provisions related to fire hazards, as specified. Finally, the bill requires a local government to make three specific findings before approving a tentative map or parcel map. The findings must specify that the design and location of each lot in the subdivision meet certain applicable regulations adopted by the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, that structural fire protection and suppression services will be available for the subdivision, and that ingress and egress to the subdivision meet existing regulations for road standards for fire equipment access. This bill is author-sponsored. 5)According to the author, in the wake of the 2003 and 2007 wildland fires that swept across Southern California and annual state fire suppression costs that peaked in 2008 at $1 billion, the relationship between land use planning, fire prevention, and fire suppression strategies has taken on added significance. The author notes that "given the rising costs of fire suppression, it is in the state's best interest to ensure that cities and counties do all they can to engage in comprehensive and consistent fire prevention and fire protection planning as early in the local land use planning process as possible for projects in SRAs and very high fire hazard severity zones. 6)This bill is the latest in a series of bills proposing better land use planning for wildland fires, including the following bills: SB 1207 (Kehoe, 2010), vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger, a measure substantially similar to SB 505. In his veto message, the Governor stated that "this bill is almost identical to a measure I vetoed last year because it would have placed SB 1241 Page 8 significant fiscal pressures on the state's General Fund and on already strapped local government budgets. Yet, this bill does not address the concerns I expressed in last year's veto message. For this reason I am unable to sign this bill." SB 505 (Kehoe, 2009), vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger. In his veto message, the Governor stated "while I concur that counties must ensure that adequate fire protection is available in an area before approving additional development, I am concerned that this bill will result in additional General Fund costs and create significant cost pressures to maintain State Responsibility Areas and fire hazard severity zone maps. In addition, I am also concerned with the cost pressures this bill will place upon local governments to implement this measure." AB 666 (Jones, 2009), vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger, would have required the legislative body of a county to make three specified findings before approving a tentative map or a parcel map for an area located in an SRA or a very high fire hazard severity zone as designated by CAL FIRE. SB 1500 (Kehoe, 2008) would have prohibited a county from approving a proposed project, as defined, in an SRA if the Board determines that structural fire protection is a local responsibility and no fire protection services are provided, as specified. This measure died on the Assembly Floor. AB 2447 (Jones, 2008), almost identical to AB 666, was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger. However, the veto message references components of previous versions of AB 2447, not the final version that was passed by the Legislature. 7)The Counties of Napa and Nevada are opposed to the provisions of the bill that create an unfunded mandate with the additional requirements placed on local governments to update their general plans. These counties believe that the state has already "approved a substantial and burdensome fee on persons living in SRAs in order to provide those landowners with fire protection." 8)Support arguments : According to the California Fire Chiefs Association and the Fire Districts Association of California, the provisions contained in the bill address very critical public safety issues, and the Fire Service has long supported SB 1241 Page 9 the front-end planning provisions contained in SB 1241. Opposition arguments : The Boards of Supervisors in both Napa and Nevada County write that "general plan updates are time-intensive and expensive?the State provides no funding for local agencies to do this mandated activity, yet continues to add additional requirements on local governments updating their general plans." 9)This bill is double-referred to the Assembly Natural Resources Committee. REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION : Support American Planning Association of California California Fire Chiefs Association California Native Plant Society California Professional Firefighters Endangered Habitats League Fire Districts Association of California Sierra Club California Opposition Napa County Board of Supervisors Nevada County Board of Supervisors Analysis Prepared by : Debbie Michel / L. GOV. / (916) 319-3958 SB 1241 Page 10