BILL NUMBER: SB 147	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Gaines

                        JANUARY 31, 2013

   An act to amend Section 4212 of the Public Resources Code,
relating to fire prevention, and declaring the urgency thereof, to
take effect immediately.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 147, as introduced, Gaines. State responsibility areas: fire
prevention fees.
   (1) Existing law requires the State Board of Forestry and Fire
Protection, on or before September 1, 2011, to adopt emergency
regulations to establish a fire prevention fee in an amount not to
exceed $150 to be charged on each structure on a parcel that is
within a state responsibility area, and requires the board to adjust
the fire prevention fee annually using prescribed methods. Existing
law requires the State Board of Equalization to collect the fees, as
prescribed.
   This bill would exempt a property owner of a structure on a parcel
that is within a state responsibility area from payment of the fire
prevention fee imposed pursuant to those provisions if the property
owner has an income of less than 200% of the federal poverty level,
as specified.
   (2) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately
as an urgency statute.
   Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 4212 of the Public Resources Code is amended to
read:
   4212.  (a) (1) By September 1, 2011, the board shall adopt
emergency regulations to establish a fire prevention fee for the
purposes of this chapter in an amount not to exceed one hundred fifty
dollars ($150) to be charged on each structure on a parcel that is
within a state responsibility area.
   (2) The Legislature finds and declares that a fire prevention fee
of not more than one hundred fifty dollars ($150) is a reasonable
amount for the necessary fire prevention activities of the state that
benefit the owner of a structure within a state responsibility area.

   (b) On July 1, 2013, and annually thereafter, the board shall
adjust the fire prevention fees imposed pursuant to this chapter to
reflect the percentage of change in the average annual value of the
Implicit Price Deflator for State and Local Government Purchases of
Goods and Services for the United States, as calculated by the United
States Department of Commerce for the 12-month period in the third
quarter of the prior calendar year, as reported by the Department of
Finance.
   (c) Emergency regulations adopted pursuant to subdivision (a)
shall be adopted in accordance with the rulemaking provisions of the
Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section
11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code).
The adoption of emergency regulations shall be deemed an emergency
and necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace,
health, and safety, or general welfare. 
   (d) Notwithstanding any other law or regulation, a property owner
of a structure on a parcel that is within a state responsibility area
shall be exempt from the payment of the fire prevention fee imposed
pursuant to this section if the property owner has an income of less
than 200 percent of the federal poverty level, as determined by the
United States Department of Health and Human Services Poverty
Guidelines. 
  SEC. 2.   This act is an urgency statute necessary for the
immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within
the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into
immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
   In order to make statutory changes necessary to provide economic
relief to low-income property owners of a structure on a parcel
within a state responsibility area by exempting those property owners
from the payment of the fire prevention fee, at the earliest
possible time, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.