BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 301
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Date of Hearing: April 13, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
Das Williams, Chair
AB 301
(Bigelow) - As Introduced February 12, 2015
SUBJECT: State responsibility areas: fire prevention fees
SUMMARY: Requires the state responsibility area fire prevention
fee to be prorated for an owner that owns the habitable
structure for only a portion of the year for which the fee is
due.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Requires the Board of Forestry (Board) to classify all lands
within the state for the purpose of determining areas in which
the financial responsibility of preventing and suppressing
fires is primarily the responsibility of the state (these
areas are known as "state responsibility area" or "SRA.")
2)Declares that it is necessary to impose a fire prevention fee
to pay for fire prevention activities in the SRA that
specifically benefit owners of structures in the SRA.
3)Requires the Board to adopt regulations to establish a fire
prevention fee in an amount not to exceed $150 (which must be
adjusted every year for inflation) to be charged on each
"structure" on a parcel that is within the SRA. Defines
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"structure" as a building used or intended to be used for
human habitation, including a mobile home or manufactured
home. Reduces the fire prevention fee by $35 if the structure
is also within the boundaries of a local agency that provides
fire protection services (this reduction applies to most
structures). Defines "owner of a habitable structure" as the
person that is the owner of record of a habitable structure in
the county tax assessor rolls or as recorded in the records of
the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) on
July 1 of the state fiscal year for which the fee is due.
4)Requires the fee be levied upon the owner of a habitable
structure if that person owns the habitable structure on July
1 of the year for which the fee is due.
5)Requires the fire prevention fees to be deposited in the State
Responsibility Area Fire Prevention Fund, which is available
to the Board and the Department of Forestry and Fire
Protection (CAL FIRE) to expend for fire prevention activities
that benefit the owners of structures within the SRA. Limits
fire prevention activities to the following: a) local
assistance grants established by the Board; b) grants to Fire
Safe Councils, the California Conservation Corps, or certified
local conservation corps for fire prevention projects and
activities in the SRA; c) grants to a qualified nonprofit
organization with a demonstrated ability to satisfactorily
plan, implement, and complete a fire prevention project
applicable to the SRA; d) inspections by CAL FIRE for
compliance with defensible space requirements around
structures in the SRA; e) public education to reduce fire risk
in the SRA; f) fire severity and fire hazard mapping by CAL
FIRE in the SRA; and, g) other fire prevention projects in the
SRA that are authorized by the Board.
6)Allows a person to petition CAL FIRE for a redetermination of
whether the fire prevention fee applies to him or her within
30 days after being served with a notice of determination
(i.e., the notice from CAL FIRE stating that a person must pay
the fire prevention fee).
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7)Imposes a 10% penalty for each 30-day period in which the fee
remains unpaid after the fee becomes final.
8)Allows the Board to exempt from the 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.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS:
1)Author's statement.
Currently if a habitable structure changes ownership, the
owner of the structure on July 1 must pay the entire fee for
the year. AB 301 aims to change that by requiring that the fee
be prorated for an owner, if the owner owns a habitable
structure for only a portion of the year for which the fee is
due. This proration of the fee would ensure that all parties
are contributing the correct amount and not over paying.
2)Fire Prevention Fee (ABX1 29). In early 2011, the state was
facing a $25.4 billion budget deficit (which grew to $26.6
billion after the governor cancelled the sale of several state
buildings) and an annual structural deficit of up to $21.5
billion was projected into the future. In March 2011, the
Legislature passed $13.4 billion in "solutions" (consisting
mostly of spending cuts) to address the deficit; however,
there was still a shortfall of $10.8 billion. To help address
the budget shortfall, the Legislature passed, among other
bills, ABX1 29, which required the Board to adopt emergency
regulations to establish a "fire prevention fee" not to exceed
$150 for each structure on a parcel that is within the SRA.
The fee was intended to fill a hole created by a $50 million
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General Fund cut to CAL FIRE in the 2011 budget bill. The
2014-15 Budget appropriated $76.3 million from SRA revenues to
enhance statewide fire prevention work including, for the
first time, $10 million for local assistance grants to be used
in locations where the effects of drought, fuel loading and
structure development converge.
3)Billing. CAL FIRE contracts the job of identifying fee payers
to a Designated Fee Administrator (DFA). The DFA contacts tax
assessors in all of the counties with SRA and contacts HCD to
get a list of habitable structures and their owners on July 1.
The DFA then overlays the list of habitable structures with
the SRA boundaries that CAL FIRE provides. The DFA develops a
list of fee payers and provides that list to the Board of
Equalization (BOE) for them to bill. The DFA also runs the
call center that answers calls from fee-payers and also
processes petitions for redetermination (appeals) from
fee-payers. BOE does not receive the list of fee payers until
January and when taking into account the appeals process, the
billing process can take until the next fiscal year to fully
complete. This process represents a significant portion of the
$15.5 million in administration costs that was budgeted for
2014-15. If the fee was prorated the billing process would be
more costly, complicated and time consuming.
4)Owner of a habitable structure. Statute defines "owner of a
habitable structure" as the person that is the owner of record
of a habitable structure in the county tax assessor rolls or
as recorded in the records of the HCD on July 1 of the state
fiscal year for which the fee is due. This bill requires
prorating the fee for the owner of a habitable structure, but
does not change the definition of owner of a habitable
structure. Therefore, a new owner who bought the habitable
structure after July 1 would not have to pay the fee until
they owned the property on July 1. The author's office
indicates this was not their intent and they would want the
new owner to pay their share of the prorated bill.
5)Allowing owners to work it out. Rather than requiring CAL FIRE
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and BOE to track all fee payers home or mobile home sales,
which would dramatically increase the cost of administering
the fire prevention fee, and therefore reduce how much fire
prevention work could be done, it might be more prudent to
allow buyers and sellers to work out who pays what portion of
the fee during the sales transaction of the habitable
structure. The author and the committee may wish to consider
removing the requirement that the fee be prorated and instead
require CAL FIRE to notify fee payers that they may negotiate
the apportionment of the fee between the parties.
6)Prior legislation.
AB 2048 (Dahle, Chesbro, and Gordon), Chapter 895, Statutes of
2014 reduced the penalties for each 30 day period the fee is
unpaid, simplified the appeals process and authorized the
Board to exempt from the fee any habitable structure that is
subsequently deemed uninhabitable as a result of a natural
disaster.
7)Related legislation.
AB 203 (Obernolte) extends the deadline to file a petition for
redetermination of the SRA fire prevention fee from 30 to 60
days. This bill was heard by this committee on March 23rd and
is awaiting hearing in Assembly Appropriations Committee.
AB 1202 (Mayes) requires the Board to reduce the fee to be
charged on a habitable structure by an amount equal to the
amount paid by the owner of the structure to a local fire
district for fire prevention services. This bill is in
Assembly Natural Resources Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
AB 301
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Support
California Taxpayers Association (Cal Tax)
California Farm Bureau Federation
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
San Diego County Board of Supervisors
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Michael Jarred / NAT. RES. / (916) 319-2092