BILL NUMBER: AB 301	CHAPTERED
	BILL TEXT

	CHAPTER  104
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  JULY 15, 2015
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  JULY 15, 2015
	PASSED THE SENATE  JUNE 29, 2015
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  JULY 2, 2015
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 24, 2015
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 15, 2015

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Bigelow

                        FEBRUARY 12, 2015

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


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 301, 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 the
fee, as specified. 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.


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 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 of the fire prevention fee may be
negotiated as one of the terms of the sale. However, payment of the
total fire prevention fee liability remains the responsibility of the
person who owns the habitable structure on July 1 of the year for
which the fee is due.
   (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 of the fire
prevention fee may be negotiated as one of the terms of the sale.
However, payment of the total fire prevention fee liability remains
the responsibility of the person who owns the habitable structure on
July 1 of the year for which the fee is due.