BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 301
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Date of Hearing: April 22, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
301 (Bigelow) - As Amended April 15, 2015
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable:
SUMMARY:
This bill requires Cal Fire to notify owners of habitable
structures subject to the fire prevention fee that when selling
the property, they may negotiate the apportionment of the annual
fee with the buyer as one of the terms of the sale.
AB 301
Page 2
FISCAL EFFECT:
Minor, absorbable costs for Cal Fire to modify the annual bill.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, if a habitable structure
changes ownership, the owner of the structure on July 1 must
pay the entire fee for the year. AB 301 allows the parties
subject to a property sale to negotiate and pay only the
portion of the fee agreed upon based on the time of ownership.
2)Background. In 2011 the Legislature passed ABx1 29
(Blumenfield), requiring the Board of Forestry and Fire
Protection to adopt emergency regulations to establish a fire
prevention fee. The fee, not to exceed $150 on each structure,
was to raise $50 million to fund CALFIRE fire prevention
activities. In January 2012, the board issued its regulation,
establishing a fee of $150 per habitable structure on a parcel
located within SRA, with a $35 reduction for each habitable
structure that is also within the boundaries of a local agency
that provides fire protection services. Revenues from the fee
are to be used exclusively for fire protection. In
authorizing the fee, the Legislature recognized that
individual owners within SRA received a disproportionately
larger benefit from fire prevention activities than realized
by the state's residents generally.
As required by law, the fee was adjusted for inflation and is
currently $152.33 per habitable structure outside a fire
protection district and $117.33 for habitable structures
within a fire protection district.
AB 301
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3)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 is currently on
suspense in this Committee.
Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Galehouse / APPR. / (916)
319-2081