BILL ANALYSIS
SB 505
Page 1
Date of Hearing: July 1, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Anna Marie Caballero, Chair
SB 505 (Kehoe) - As Amended: June 1, 2009
SENATE VOTE : 24-15
SUBJECT : Local planning: fire hazard impacts.
SUMMARY : Expands the required contents of safety elements that
cover state responsibility area lands (SRA) and very high fire
hazard severity zones, as specified. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires the Governor's Office of Planning and Research (OPR)
to update its "Fire Hazard Planning" document on or before
January 1, 2011.
2)Requires cities and counties, prior to January 1, 2015, and
thereafter upon each revision of the housing element, to
review and update their safety elements as needed to address
the risk of fire for land classified as SRA and land
classified very high fire hazard severity zones.
3)Requires this review to consider the advice included in the
most recent publication of OPR's "Fire Hazard Planning"
document.
4)Requires that the review also include all of the following:
a) Information about fire hazards, including fire hazard
severity zone maps, historical data on wildfires,
information about wildfire hazard areas available from the
U.S. Geological Survey, the general location and
distribution of existing and planned development, and
public fire protection agencies;
b) A set of comprehensive goals, policies, and objectives,
including avoiding or minimizing wildfire risks to new
development, identifying construction design or methods to
minimize damage if new development is located in SRA lands,
locating new essential public facilities outside SRA land
and very high fire hazard severity zones, and working
cooperatively with public fire protection agencies; and,
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c) Establishing feasible implementation measures designed
to carry out the goals, policies, and objectives.
5)Requires OPR, at the next California Environmental Quality Act
(CEQA) guidelines update on or after January 1, 2010, to
prepare guidelines recommending changes to the initial study
checklist for the inclusion of questions related to fire
hazard impacts for projects in an SRA or within very high
hazard severity zones.
6)Requires, after receipt and review, the Natural Resources
Agency to certify and adopt the proposed guideline changes.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires the director of the Department of Forestry and Fire
Protection (CAL FIRE) to identify areas in the state as very
high fire hazard severity zones based on consistent statewide
criteria and the severity of fire hazard that is expected to
prevail in those areas as determined by fuel loading, slope,
fire weather, and other relevant factors.
2)Defines SRAs as areas of the state in which the financial
responsibility of preventing and suppressing fires has been
determined by the Board of Forestry (Board) to be primarily
the responsibility of the state.
3)Requires the Board to identify as SRAs all lands where the
state has the primary financial responsibility for preventing
and suppressing fires.
4)Requires the Board to map SRAs and provide this map to county
assessors and update this map every five years.
5)Excludes from SRAs, federal lands and lands within the
exterior boundaries of any city, except a city and county with
a population of less than 25,000 if, at the time the city and
county government is established, the county contains no
municipal corporations.
6)Requires CAL FIRE, within SRAs, to provide wildland fire
prevention and firefighting personnel and equipment, and may
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provide rescue, first aid, and other emergency services
if the activity does not require additional funds.
7)Requires the director of CAL FIRE to classify and update or
reclassify, if necessary, SRAs into fire hazard severity zones
for the purposes of fire prevention and suppression.
8)Requires local governments to adopt a general plan that
includes, among other things, a safety element, and requires a
local government with SRAs or a very high fire hazard severity
zone to submit a draft safety element to the Board for its
review and comment prior to its adoption or amendment.
9)Requires, under CEQA, lead agencies with the principal
responsibility for carrying out or approving a proposed
discretionary project to prepare a negative declaration,
mitigated declaration, or environmental impact report (EIR)
for this action, unless the project is exempt from CEQA (CEQA
includes various statutory exemptions, as well as categorical
exemptions in the CEQA guidelines).
10)Requires, under CEQA, an initial study to be prepared to
determine whether a project may have a significant effect on
the environment.
11)Requires OPR to prepare and develop proposed guidelines to
implement CEQA, and submit them to the Secretary of the
Natural Resources Agency for certification and adoption.
12)Requires OPR to review CEQA guidelines at least every two
years and recommend changes or amendments to the Secretary of
the Natural Resources Agency for certification and adoption.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)According to the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO), local
land use decisions are responsible for an increasing density
of homes in the wildland urban interface (WUI) but the
consequences of those decisions - increased fire risk and
medical emergencies - are increasingly the responsibility of
the state. In its analysis of the 2008-09 budget, LAO found
that CAL FIRE's budget has increased 150% since 1997-98. One
of the cost drivers of CAL FIRE's growing expenditures is
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increasing development in the WUI. Despite the fact that the
total acreage in SRAs has remained stable over the last 15
years, the number of housing units in SRAs has increased by
15% over this period. Based on 2005 data, LAO reports that
there are about 870,000 housing units in SRAs, and the number
is increasing at an accelerating pace.
2)The author's office notes that "it is in the state's best
interest to ensure that cities and counties do all they can to
engage in comprehensive and consistent fire prevention and
fire protection planning as early in the local land use
planning process as possible."
3)Following recent wildfires, there are concerns over reducing
loss of lives and property, high costs of fire protection, and
addressing those losses and costs through land use planning.
SB 505 expands the required contents of safety elements covering
SRA lands and very high fire hazard severity zones and also
requires OPR to revise CEQA guidelines to change the initial
study to address fire hazard impacts.
4)In their letter of opposition the California State Association
of Counties and the Regional Council of Rural Counties state
we "understand the author's interest in strengthening existing
laws to ensure additional consideration of fire safety issues
in the land use planning and development processes. However,
we must oppose the provision of the bill that would have the
affect of requiring cities and counties with land designated
as SRA and very high fire hazard severity zones, to amend
their general plan safety elements to address fire safety
issues in a more comprehensive manner. We are concerned with
the potential implementation costs which will be in the
thousands of dollars depending on the amount of public
outreach, controversy, and environmental review. The bill
indicates that the local agency may levy a fee to pay for the
program mandated by this measure. It is unrealistic to expect
cities and counties to recover all of these costs through the
imposition of charges, fees, or assessments."
5)Related legislation :
a) AB 666 (Jones, 2009) would require the legislative body
of a county to make three specified findings before
approving a tentative map or a parcel map for an area
located in an SRA or a very high fire hazard severity zone
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as designated by CAL FIRE. This measure is currently in the
Senate Local Government Committee.
b) SB 1500 (Kehoe, 2008) would have prohibited a county
from approving a proposed project, as defined, in an SRA if
the Board determines that structural fire protection is a
local responsibility and no fire protection services are
provided, as specified. This measure died on the Assembly
Floor.
c) AB 2447 (Jones, 2008), almost identical to what is
currently in AB 666, was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger.
However, the veto message references components of
previous versions of AB 2447, not the final version that
was passed by the Legislature.
6)This bill is double-referred to the Committee on Natural
Resources.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
American Planning Association of CA
CA Fire Chiefs Association
CA Native Plant Society
CA Professional Firefighters
Fire Districts Association of CA
Green CA
Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority
Orange County Professional Firefighters' Association
Sierra Club CA
Opposition
CA State Association of Counties
Regional Council of Rural Counties
Analysis Prepared by : Katie Kolitsos / L. GOV. / (916)
319-3958