BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 937 (McGuire) - Disaster relief: County of Lake: fires
-----------------------------------------------------------------
| |
| |
| |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|--------------------------------+--------------------------------|
| | |
|Version: February 2, 2016 |Policy Vote: G.O. 12 - 0 |
| | |
|--------------------------------+--------------------------------|
| | |
|Urgency: Yes |Mandate: No |
| | |
|--------------------------------+--------------------------------|
| | |
|Hearing Date: April 11, 2016 |Consultant: Mark McKenzie |
| | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: SB 937, an urgency measure, would provide state
disaster-related relief to local agencies impacted by the
wildfires that occurred in Lake County in 2015.
Fiscal
Impact: Estimated General Fund costs of approximately $2
million, payable over several fiscal years beginning in 2016-17,
based upon preliminary estimates of eligible disaster-related
costs.
Background: Lake County experienced three major forest fires in 2015.
While the Rocky and Jerusalem fires were destructive, scorching
94,556 acres, the Valley Fire was the third largest wildfire in
California history. This devastating fire burned for over a
month after it started on September 12, 2015, destroying over
1,900 structures, including 1,300 homes, and displacing nearly
20,000 residents of the area. The author indicates that the
SB 937 (McGuire) Page 1 of
?
Valley fire ultimately burned 170,623 acres and caused more than
$1.3 billion in damage.
Existing law provides that the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) pays local governments for 75 percent of eligible
disaster mitigation costs for federally-declared natural
disasters. Existing state law, the California Disaster
Assistance Act (CDAA), requires the state to pay 75 percent of
the remaining 25 percent of eligible costs for any
state-declared emergency. Local governments cover the remaining
amount. Eligible costs include local expenditures for debris
removal, emergency work, and repair or replacement of public
facilities damaged as a result of a disaster event.
Existing law, AB 2140 (Hancock), Ch. 739/2006, prohibits the
state share for any eligible project from exceeding 75 percent
of state eligible costs unless the local agency has adopted a
local hazard mitigation plan as part of the safety element of
its general plan. For some statutorily specified disasters, the
state has paid 100 percent of the non-federal eligible disaster
mitigation costs.
Proposed Law:
SB 937, an urgency bill, would add the forest fires that
occurred in Lake County in 2015 to the statutory list of natural
disasters for which the state will pay up to 100 percent of the
non-federal portion of local disaster-related costs that are
eligible for reimbursement.
Related
Legislation: The following measures were intended to provide
CDAA disaster relief to local agencies, but none of them were
enacted:
AB 18 (Dodd), which was held on this Committee's Suspense File
last year, would have added the South Napa Earthquake that
occurred on August 24, 2014 to the list of disasters eligible
for full state reimbursement of local costs.
AB 1429 (Chesbro), which was vetoed by Governor Brown in 2011,
would have added the tsunami that affected Del Norte County in
March of 2011 to the list of disasters eligible for full state
reimbursement of local costs. The veto message stated the
SB 937 (McGuire) Page 2 of
?
following:
The state has not paid for a local government's share of
disaster costs since 2006 and this measure would cost the
state over $1 million. In addition, if I sign this measure,
other counties that sustain similar damages would likely
request the same relief -- a precedent that the state
currently cannot afford.
Staff notes that AB 1308 (Cox) and SB 1537 (Kehoe), both of
which would have provided full state reimbursement of local
disaster-related costs related to specified wildfires, were
chaptered by Governor Schwarzenegger in 2008, but failed to
become operative because they were contingent upon the enactment
of SB 1764 (Kehoe), which was vetoed. As noted in the above
veto message of AB 1429 (Chesbro), the state has not provided
full reimbursement of local agency disaster-related costs since
2006, when AB 1798 (Berg), Chap 896/2006, added severe
rainstorms in specified northern California counties to the list
of disasters eligible for full state reimbursement of local
agency costs.
Staff
Comments: Payment of local shares of disaster-related costs is
made with a Budget Act appropriation to the California Emergency
Management Agency, based on preliminary estimates. Because the
state attempts to reimburse all claims received in the budget
year, and does not control when claims are submitted, the amount
appropriated rarely matches the amount ultimately required in
any given year. When claims exceed the budget appropriation, a
supplemental appropriation may be made.
The Office of Emergency Services' preliminary estimates indicate
that total local agency costs associated with the Valley, Rocky,
and Jerusalem fires that are eligible for reimbursement are
estimated to be approximately $32.15 million, $24.1 million of
which is covered by the federal government. Under this bill,
the state would pay its share of $6,027,000, and assume the
local share of $2,009,000.
SB 937 (McGuire) Page 3 of
?
-- END --