BILL NUMBER: AB 301	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 15, 2015

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Bigelow

                        FEBRUARY 12, 2015

   An act to amend Section 4213.1  of   of, and
to add Section 4213.2 to,  the Public Resources Code, relating
to fire prevention.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 301, as amended, Bigelow. State responsibility areas: fire
prevention fees.
   Existing law requires the State Board of Forestry and Fire
Protection to adopt emergency regulations to establish a fire
prevention fee in an amount not to exceed $150 to be charged annually
on each habitable structure on a parcel that is within a state
responsibility area. Existing law requires the fee to be levied upon
the owner of a habitable structure if that person owns the structure
on July 1 of the year for which the fee is due.
   This bill would  require the fee to be prorated for an
owner, upon whom a fee is imposed, if that owner owns the habitable
structure for only a portion of the year for which the fee is due.
  permit the owner of a property with one or more
habitable   structures subject to the fire prevention fee
to, when selling the property, negotiate as one of the terms of the
sale the apportionment between the parties of liability for payment
of the fee. This bill would require the Department of Forestry and
Fire Protection to notify an owner subject to a fire prevention fee
that the owner may, when selling the habitable structure or
structures, negotiate the apportionment of liability for payment of
the fee between the parties as one of the terms of the sale. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


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

  SECTION 1.  Section 4213.1 of the Public Resources Code is amended
to read:
   4213.1.  (a) (1) The fire prevention fee imposed pursuant to
Section 4212 shall be levied upon the owner of a habitable structure
identified by the department as located within the state
responsibility area, if that person owns the habitable structure on
July 1 of the year for which the fee is due. 
   (2) The fire prevention fee shall be prorated for an owner, upon
whom a fee is imposed, if that owner owns the habitable structure for
only a portion of the year for which the fee is due.  
   (2) The department shall notify an owner, upon whom a fire
prevention fee is imposed pursuant to Section 4212, through the fee
billing process that if the owner sells the habitable structure or
structures, the apportionment between the parties of liability for
payment of the fire prevention fee may be negotiated as one of the
terms of the sale. 
   (b) The board may exempt from the fire prevention fee any
habitable structure that is subsequently deemed uninhabitable as a
result of a natural disaster during the year for which the fee is
due, as well as one subsequent year if the habitable structure has
not been repaired or rebuilt. The board shall consider granting an
exemption only if both of the following conditions are met:
   (1) The owner of the habitable structure certifies that the
structure is not habitable as a result of a natural disaster.
   (2) The owner of the habitable structure either documents that the
habitable structure passed a defensible space inspection conducted
by the department or by one of its agents within one year of the date
the structure was damaged or destroyed or certifies that clearance
as required under Section 4291 was in place at the time that the
structure was damaged or destroyed as a result of a natural disaster.

   (c) The board shall prepare forms for purposes of the
certification requirements in subdivision (b).
   SEC. 2.    Section 4213.2 is added to the  
Public Resources Code   , to read:  
   4213.2.  If an owner of a property with one or more habitable
structures subject to the fire prevention fee imposed pursuant to
Section 4212 sells the property, the apportionment between the
parties of liability for payment of the fire prevention fee may be
negotiated as one of the terms of the sale.