BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER
Senator Fran Pavley, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 1136 Hearing Date: March 29,
2016
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|Author: |Morrell | | |
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|Version: |March 28, 2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|William Craven |
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Subject: Fire prevention: state responsibility areas: report
BACKGROUND AND EXISTING LAW
The State Responsibility Area (SRA) fire prevention fee was
enacted following the signing of Assembly Bill X1 29 in July
2011. The law approved the new fee to pay for fire prevention
services within the SRA. The fee is applied to all habitable
structures within the SRA and generates approximately $74
million annually.
Effective July 1, 2014, the fee is levied at the rate of $152.33
per habitable structure, which is defined as a building that can
be occupied for residential use. Owners of habitable structures
who are also within the boundaries of a local fire protection
agency will receive a reduction of $35 per habitable structure.
According to the website of the Department of Forestry and Fire
Protection (CDF), this fee funds a variety of important fire
prevention services in the SRA. Such activities include fuel
reduction activities that lessen risk of wildfire to communities
and evacuation routes. Other activities include defensible space
inspections, fire prevention engineering, emergency evacuation
planning, fire prevention education, fire hazard severity
mapping, implementation of the State and local Fire Plans and
fire-related law enforcement activities such as arson
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investigation.
The legality of the fee is being challenged in court, and it is
not clear when the trial will occur. The argument is that the
fee should have been enacted as a tax with a 2/3 vote.
Since its adoption, the Legislature has considered many bills to
repeal the fee, none of which were passed. It also passed bills
allowing a landowner to apportion the fee with a prospective
buyer, to index the fee for inflation, and to exempt structures
destroyed by natural disasters from the fee.
An annual report on SRA fire fee expenditures is required by
law. The sunset date on these reports is January, 2017. In a
recent informational report from last year, CDF summarized
expenditures for the three fiscal years 2012-15. That report is
available on the CDF website.
Some legislators were concerned that they (and the public) were
not getting adequate information about SRA fire fee expenditures
despite this report and other information provided to them by
CDF.
PROPOSED LAW
This bill would amend the annual reporting statute for SRA fee
expenditures by requiring that each report include a description
of each program and subprogram element for which the department
uses money generated from the fire prevention fee, including an
itemized accounting of expenditures for each program and
subprogram. The bill would also require reporting on equipment
expenditures, personnel positions that are associated with each
expenditure, descriptions and expenditures on each SRA grant
awarded by CDF, and past year, current year, and budget year
expenditures for each annual report. It also directs the
department to make any appropriate recommendations to the
Legislature. The bill extends the sunset on the reporting
provisions until January 31, 2021.
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT
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According to the author, CDF does report its SRA grant fee
expenditures much more transparently than it reports its fire
prevention activities that are also funded from SRA fire fees.
At the request of the author, CDF provided a much more detailed
report on SRA fire prevention activities that he believes is an
adequate precedent for future reports should this bill be
enacted.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION
None received
COMMENTS
The author acknowledged that the department has provided the
expenditure information he sought in an acceptable format. The
question before the committee is whether that fulfilled request
should now be codified, or whether the author can obtain
agreement on another way to obtain a commitment from the
department for the expenditure information to be available to
the public without the need for a bill. That question may be
resolved at this hearing or at any future point in the process.
AMENDMENTS
The author has requested three technical amendments that he will
adopt as author's amendments as well as adding co-authors:
1. Page 3, in subdivision (f) include in the Cal Fire
report past year actuals, current year, and budget year
estimates.
2. Page 3, include a comma in line 27 after the word
"subprogram"
3. Page 3, include a comma in line 30 after the word
"subprogram"
4. Add Senate co-authors Berryhill, Fuller, Bates, and
Runner and Assembly co-authors Gallagher, Jones, Wagner,
and Olbernolte.
SUPPORT
Senator George Runner (Ret.)
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
46 Individuals
OPPOSITION
None Received
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