BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
1207 (Kehoe)
Hearing Date: 05/27/2010 Amended: 03/24/2010
Consultant: Brendan McCarthy Policy Vote: LG 3-2, EQ 5-1
SB 1207 (Kehoe), Page 2
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BILL SUMMARY: SB 1207 requires the Office of Planning and
Research to update its general plan advice document relating to
fire hazards and its CEQA guidelines to address wildfire risks.
Beginning in 2015, the bill requires some cities and counties to
update the safety element of their general plans to address
risks of wildfire.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 Fund
OPR guideline and planning $50 General
document updates
CalFire guideline and planning $65 General
document update assistance
Board of Forestry reviews
$90General
of safety element updates
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STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE.
Under current law, cities and counties are required to adopt
general plans that incorporate seven mandated elements - land
use, circulation, housing, conservation, open space, noise, and
safety. Draft safety elements must be submitted to the Board of
Forestry for review and comment. The only element of a general
plan that must be regularly updated is the housing element.
Major land use decisions must be consistent with a city or
county's general plan.
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires lead
agencies to determine whether a proposed project may have a
significant impact on the environment. If so, an environmental
impact report is often required. The Office of Planning and
Research (OPR) develops guidelines for the implementation of
CEQA, including the criteria lead agencies use to determine
whether an environmental impact report is needed. The OPR
reviews the CEQA guidelines every two years for possible
SB 1207 (Kehoe), Page 2
updates.
Under current law, the Board of Forestry designates state
responsibility areas - areas of the state where the Department
of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire) provides wildfire
protection. These are generally timberlands, rangelands and
forested watersheds. In recent years, however, increasing
suburban development has occurred in state responsibility areas.
In addition, current law requires CalFire to identify areas of
very high fire hazard severity.
SB 1207 requires OPR to update its existing "Fire Hazard
Planning" document (used by cities and counties in conducting
general plan updates) by January 1, 2012.
The bill also requires OPR, at the next guideline update on or
after January 1, 2011, to prepare guidelines recommending
changes to the initial study checklist used by lead agencies
when evaluating whether an environmental impact report is
needed. The revised study checklist shall include questions
relating to fire hazard impacts for projects in state
responsibility areas or within areas classified as very high
fire hazard severity.
The OPR estimates costs to update the planning document and the
CEQA guidelines to be about $50,000 in one-time costs. In
addition, staff estimates CalFire will require about $65,000 in
one-time costs to assist OPR in these efforts.
The bill requires cities and counties to update the safety
element of their general plans when cities and counties update
the housing elements of those plans, before January 1, 2015 and
with every subsequent revision of the housing element.
Specifically, cities and counties are required to update the
safety element of their general plans to address fire hazards on
lands located within state responsibility areas or lands
classified as very high fire hazard severity. The bill sets out
a series of issues to be considered and policies to be included
in the revised safety element.
By imposing an additional cost on local governments, this bill
creates a mandate. However, because local governments have
existing authority to charge fees to support their planning
activities, this mandate is not reimbursable.
This bill is substantially similar to SB 505 (Kehoe, 2009) which
SB 1207 (Kehoe), Page 2
was vetoed by the Governor due to the costs to state agencies
and local governments.
SB 1293 (Hollingsworth), to be heard by this committee, also
deals with CEQA guidelines and fire risk. That bill requires OPR
to update the CEQA guidelines to address vegetation management
projects designed to reduce fire risk in state responsibility
areas or very high hazard zones.