BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE
Senator Dave Cox, Chair
BILL NO: SB 1207 HEARING: 4/7/10
AUTHOR: Kehoe FISCAL: Yes
VERSION: 3/24/10 CONSULTANT: Detwiler
FIRE HAZARDS AND LAND USE PLANNING
Background and Existing Law
The state government pays for wildland fire protection on
non-federal lands outside cities. To meet this duty, the
State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection designates the
State Responsibility Area (SRA) every five years. Within
SRA lands, the Director of the State Department of Forestry
and Fire Protection designates fire hazard severity zones.
SRA landowners must follow specified fire prevention
practices. After the 1991 Oakland-Berkeley fire storm, the
Legislature required the Department to designate very high
fire hazard severity zones. Landowners in these areas must
follow specified fire prevention practices (AB 337, Bates,
1992).
Every county and city must adopt a general plan with seven
mandatory elements: land use, circulation, housing,
conservation, open space, noise, and safety. Except for
the housing elements, the Planning and Zoning Law does not
require counties and cities to regularly revise their
general plans. Cities and counties' major land use
decisions --- subdivisions, zoning, public works projects,
use permits --- must be consistent with their general
plans. Development decisions must carry out and not
obstruct a general plan's policies.
In the aftermath of the recent wildfires, state and local
officials have thought about how to reduce the loss of
lives and property. They also worry about the high costs
that state and local fire protection agencies face when
they fight wildfires in developed areas. One way to avoid
or mitigate these losses and costs is to use land use
planning to guide decisions about future development.
Proposed Law
I. Safety Element Contents . The Planning and Zoning Law
SB 1207 -- 3/24/10 -- Page 2
says that the safety element's purpose is to protect the
community from unreasonable risks from geologic hazards,
flooding, and wildland and urban fires. In 2007, the
Legislature expanded the safety elements' contents for
flood hazards, requiring these documents to contain:
Information about flood hazards, listing 11 types
of information.
Based on that information, a set of comprehensive
goals, policies, and objectives to protect against
unreasonable flood risks.
To carry out those goals, a set of feasible
implementation measures.
These changes must appear in safety elements the next time
that cities and counties revise their housing elements (AB
162, Wolk, 2007).
Senate Bill 1207 requires cities and counties to review and
update their safety elements to address fire risks on land
classified as State Responsibility Area (SRA) and very high
fire hazard severity zones. Local officials must act
before January 1, 2015 and, after that, each time they
revise their housing elements.
When reviewing their safety elements, SB 1207 requires
cities and counties to consider the advice in "Fire Hazard
Planning," published by the Governor's Office of Planning
and Research. The bill also expands the required contents
of safety elements that cover SRA lands and very high fire
hazard severity zones to require:
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.
Based on that information, a set of goals,
policies, and objectives, including avoiding or
minimizing wildfire risks to new development,
identifying construction design or methods to minimize
fires, locating new essential public facilities
outside SRA lands and very high fire hazard severity
zones, and working cooperatively with public fire
protection agencies.
To carry out those goals, policies, and objectives,
a set of feasible implementation measures.
SB 1207 -- 3/24/10 -- Page 3
II. Safety Element Review . A county with SRA lands and a
city or county with very high fire hazard severity zones
must send their draft documents to the State Board of
Forestry and Fire Protection and to the local fire agencies
for comment. If the recommendations are not available in
time, the local officials can act without them (SB 186,
Dills, 1989 and AB 3065, Kehoe, 2004). Senate Bill 1207
clarifies those requirements.
III. Planning Advice . The Governor's Office of Planning
and Research (OPR) must adopt and regularly revise the
"General Plan Guidelines" which advise cities and counties
on how to prepare local plans. OPR also publishes other
advisory reports, including "Fire Hazard Planning"
(November 2003). Senate Bill 1207 requires the Office of
Planning and Research to update "Fire Hazard Planning" by
January 1, 2012.
IV. Environmental Review . The California Environmental
Quality Act (CEQA) requires public officials to consider a
proposed project's environmental effects and to avoid or
mitigate environmental impacts when feasible. To help
public agencies carry out their duties, the Governor's
Office of Planning and Research (OPR) drafts and the
Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency adopts
administrative regulations called the "CEQA Guidelines."
Senate Bill 1207 requires the Office of Planning and
Research to cooperate with the State Department of Forestry
and Fire Protection in recommending changes to Secretary of
the Natural Resources Agency for the initial study of the
"CEQA Guidelines" regarding fire hazard impacts on land
classified as State Responsibility Area (SRA) and very high
fire hazard severity zones.
Comments
1. Fire is the new flood . Comprehensive land use planning
serves two purposes. First, it helps public officials
avoid problems when they make decisions about the future.
Second, it helps public officials solve past problems. The
Legislature promoted both of those purposes in 2007 when it
increased the local planning requirements for flood
hazards. Legislators required local general plans' safety
elements to present information, set goals and policies
based on that information, and come up with feasible
SB 1207 -- 3/24/10 -- Page 4
measures to carry out those goals and policies. That
three-part approach helps city councils and county
supervisors make better land use decisions that avoid or
minimize the risks of flooding. SB 1207 applies the same
three-part approach to the problem of wildfires on State
Responsibility Area land and in very high fire hazard
severity zones. The state government has both a policy
interest and a fiscal interest in the decisions that cities
and counties make about land use for land that's prone to
wildfires. Not only does the state want to protect the
SRA's watershed resource values, but the State Department
of Forestry and Fire Protection is responsible for battling
wildland fires. Because local land use decisions affect
the state's costs of fire prevention and suppression, the
state wants to encourage wise land use planning that
prepares local officials to make development decisions.
Using the accepted three-part approach to land use
planning, SB 1207 helps local officials make better land
use decisions.
2. Yet another mandate . The Legislature first required
cities and counties to adopt general plans in 1937 (AB 722,
Weber, 1937). Over the last 70 years, legislators have
insisted on increasingly detailed local plans. The recent
trend has been to require general plans to pay more
attention to specialized topics: San Joaquin Valley's air
quality (AB 170, Reyes, 2003), wildland fires (AB 3065,
Kehoe, 2004), tribal cultural places (SB 18, Burton, 2004),
military operating areas (SB 926, Knight, 2004), and flood
hazards (AB 162, Wolk, 2007). As land use problems hit the
headlines, they capture the attention of legislators who
react by imposing new planning chores on cities and
counties. But, unlike other states, California doesn't
invest State General Fund money in long-range,
comprehensive, local planning. The burden of funding these
new state mandated local programs falls on local general
funds and on the property owners who apply for development
permits. Communities that live with wildland fire hazards
already know who they are. SB 1207 is just another
well-intentioned, but unfunded, state mandated local
program.
3. Legislative history . SB 1207 is not the first measure
to propose better land use planning for wildland fires.
The Senate Local Government Committee approved the similar
SB 505 (Kehoe, 2009) by the vote of 3-2. Governor
SB 1207 -- 3/24/10 -- Page 5
Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill. His veto message concurred
that counties must ensure adequate fire protection before
approving more development, but he worried about the bill's
costs. SB 1500 (Kehoe, 2008) would have prohibited
counties from approving development on SRA lands unless
there was sufficient structural fire protection. SB 1500
died on the Assembly Floor without a vote. AB 666 (Jones,
2009) would have required county supervisors to find that
adequate fire protection exists before approving
subdivisions and AB 2447 (Jones, 2008) would have required
county supervisors to deny development on SRA lands without
sufficient structural fire protection. Governor
Schwarzenegger vetoed both of the Jones bills.
4. Double-referred . Because SB 1207 adds a section to the
California Environmental Quality Act, the Senate Rules
Committee has ordered a double-referral of the bill ---
first to the Senate Local Government Committee which has
policy jurisdiction over the land use statutes, and then to
the Senate Environmental Quality Committee which has
jurisdiction over CEQA bills.
Support and Opposition (4/1/10)
Support : American Planning Association-California Chapter,
California Fire Chiefs Association, California Native Plant
Society, California Professional Firefighters, California
State Firefighters' Association, Fire Districts Association
of California, League of California Cities, Mountain
Recreation and Conservation Authority, Orange County
Professional Firefighters Association, Sierra
Club-California.
Opposition : California State Association of Counties,
Regional Council of Rural Counties.