BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1202 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 27, 2015 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES Das Williams, Chair AB 1202 (Mayes) - As Introduced February 27, 2015 SUBJECT: Fire prevention fee: fee reduction SUMMARY: Requires the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection (Board) to reduce the amount of the fire prevention fee (fee) by an amount equal to the amount paid to a local fire district (district) for fire prevention. EXISTING LAW: 1)Requires the 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 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 the 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 "structure" as a AB 1202 Page 2 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 by 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 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. 5)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). 6)Imposes a 10% penalty for each 30-day period in which the fee remains unpaid after the fee becomes final. AB 1202 Page 3 7)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. THIS BILL: 1)Requires the Board to reduce the amount of the fee to be charged on a habitable structure by the amount equal to the amount paid by the owner of the structure to a district for fire prevention services during the year for which the fee is due. 2)Requires the owner of the structure to provide the Board with written documentation of the amount paid to the district for those services to receive the reduction. FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown COMMENTS: 1)Author's statement. Current practice provides a $35 reduction of the SRA fee for any property also in a local fire protection district, and a previous proposal (AB 2474, 2011-2012) would have provided a dollar-for-dollar reduction of the SRA fee based on the amount paid to a fire protection district, regardless of the use of those funds by the local district. AB 1202 Page 4 AB 1202 recognizes that the SRA fee was intended to fund prevention activities that mitigate the risk of wildfires caused by structures in the SRA, and thereby provides a reduction in the SRA fee in the amount paid to the local district for fire prevention services. Property owners who are already paying a special tax for these services at the local level should not also have to pay for them at the state level. 2)Background. California's SRA covers over 31 million acres and includes land in every county except San Francisco and Sutter. CAL FIRE operates more than 200 fire stations within the SRA, contracts with other firefighting agencies, and has a proposed wildland fire protection budget of $1.5 billion for this fiscal year. The fire protection budget includes, among other things, fire prevention activities such as brush clearance, defensible space inspections, fire breaks, and other measures to reduce the cost of firefighting, property loss, injury to firefighters, and damage to the environment. CAL FIRE's fire protection budget has seen a steady increase over the years and is the largest budget in the Natural Resources Agency. In 1996-97, CAL FIRE's fire protection budget was $266 million. This increase has been attributed in large part to the significant housing development at the boundaries between wildlands and urban areas, the heightened risk of catastrophic fires due to fire suppression activities over the last century, and increased staff costs. 3)Fire Prevention Fee. In early 2011, the state was facing a $26.6 billion budget deficit, 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 budget 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 (Blumenfield), Chapter 8, AB 1202 Page 5 Statutes of 2011-12 First Extraordinary Session, 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 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. 4)Local fire protection. There are many different districts and many of them charge the public for fire protection and prevention. District rates have a high degree of variance with some less than the $35 reduction and some more than the $150 fire fee. The fees assessed by districts can also be assessed by parcel, single family, or by the use of the parcel. Districts combine their fire protection and fire prevention services in one fee. In contrast, the SRA fee is one set amount for the whole state, is charged by habitable structure, and only covers fire prevention. AB 1202 allows the owner to provide written documentation of what they pay to a district to receive a reduction in their SRA fee. The author and committee may wish to consider amending the bill to require the Board to adopt guidelines to implement this provision and clarify what written documentation should be provided. 5)Prior legislation. AB 2474 (Chesbro, 2012) requires the Board to reduce the amount of the fire prevention fee (fee) by an amount equal to the amount paid to a local fire district. This bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION: AB 1202 Page 6 Support California Association of Realtors California Fire Chiefs Association California Taxpayers Association Central Coast Forest Association Fire Districts Association of California Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association Mendocino County Board of Supervisors Morongo Valley Community Services District San Diego County Board of Supervisors Southwest California Legislative Council AB 1202 Page 7 Opposition None on file Analysis Prepared by:Michael Jarred / NAT. RES. / (916) 319-2092