BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



          SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                             Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
                            2015 - 2016  Regular  Session

          SB 937 (McGuire) - Disaster relief:  County of Lake:  fires
          
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          |Version: February 2, 2016       |Policy Vote: G.O. 12 - 0        |
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          |Urgency: Yes                    |Mandate: No                     |
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          |Hearing Date: April 11, 2016    |Consultant: Mark McKenzie       |
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          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  







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          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  








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          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.









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