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 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 thebegin delete fee.end deletebegin insert
fee, as specified.end insert 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 4213.1 of the Public Resources Code is
2amended to read:
(a) (1) The fire prevention fee imposed pursuant to
4Section 4212 shall be levied upon the owner of a habitable structure
5identified by the department as located within the state
6responsibility area, if that person owns the habitable structure on
7July 1 of the year for which the fee is due.
8(2) The department shall notify an owner, upon whom a fire
9prevention fee is imposed pursuant to Section 4212, through the
10fee billing process that if the owner sells the habitable structure or
11structures, the apportionmentbegin delete between the parties of liability for of the fire prevention fee may be
negotiated as one of the
12paymentend delete
13terms of thebegin delete sale.end deletebegin insert sale. However, payment of the total fire
14prevention fee liability remains the responsibility of the person
15who owns the habitable structure on July 1 of the year for which
16the fee is due.end insert
17(b) The board may exempt from the fire prevention fee any
18habitable structure that is subsequently deemed uninhabitable as
19a result of a natural disaster during the year for which the fee is
20due, as well as one subsequent year if the habitable structure has
21not been repaired or rebuilt. The board shall consider granting an
22exemption only if both of the following conditions are met:
23(1) The owner of the
habitable structure certifies that the
24structure is not habitable as a result of a natural disaster.
25(2) The owner of the habitable structure either documents that
26the habitable structure passed a defensible space inspection
27conducted by the department or by one of its agents within one
28year of the date the structure was damaged or destroyed or certifies
29that clearance as required under Section 4291 was in place at the
30time that the structure was damaged or destroyed as a result of a
31natural disaster.
32(c) The board shall prepare forms for purposes of the
33certification requirements in subdivision (b).
Section 4213.2 is added to the Public Resources Code,
35to read:
If an owner of a property with one or more habitable
2structures subject to the fire prevention fee imposed pursuant to
3Section 4212 sells the property, the apportionmentbegin delete between the of the fire prevention fee may be
4parties of liability for paymentend delete
5negotiated as one of the terms of the sale.begin insert However, payment of
6the total fire prevention fee liability remains the responsibility of
7the person who owns the habitable structure on July 1 of the year
8for which the fee is due.end insert
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