BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1207
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 16, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Cameron Smyth, Chair
SB 1207 (Kehoe) - As Amended: March 24, 2010
SENATE VOTE : 23-11
SUBJECT : Land use: general plan: safety element: 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, 2012.
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 hazards
associated with new development, identifying construction
design or methods to minimize the potential for ignition or
spread of a structure fire to wildlands or surrounding
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areas 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,
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, 2011, 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 Secretary of 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
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municipal corporations.
6)Requires CAL FIRE, within SRAs, to provide wildland fire
prevention and firefighting personnel and equipment, and may
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 : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee:
1)OPR estimates costs to update the planning document and CEQA
guidelines to be about $50,000 in one-time costs. In
addition, staff estimates CAL FIRE will require about $65,000
in one-time costs to assist OPR in these efforts.
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2)The Board of Forestry estimates $90,000 in one-time costs to
review the safety element updates.
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
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.
This bill 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)Support Arguments : The League of California Cities supports
SB 1207 stating that "planning for the health and safety of
citizens necessarily involves the consideration of and
planning for very high fire hazard zones. The League believes
it is appropriate that the CEQA guidelines be amended to
address this consideration and the changes to the general plan
law outline a logical process for planning for new
development." Moreover, the League believes that this bill
"may actually save cities money in the long term. When
dangerous fires emerge, cities up and down the state send fire
fighters to assist under mutual aid agreements. While the
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time and cost of these fire fighters are reimbursed, many
indirect costs - such as overtime paid to the fire fighters
who stay home to cover the shifts of those who left - are not.
To the extent better planning will lead to less property at
risk of severe fire hazards, local agencies up and down the
state will save money."
Opposition Arguments : In their letter of oppose unless
amended, 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)Similar legislation :
a) SB 505 (Kehoe, 2009), vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger,
is almost identical to
SB 1207. In his veto message, the Governor stated "while I
concur that counties must ensure that adequate fire
protection is available in an area before approving
additional development, I am concerned that this bill will
result in additional General Fund costs and create
significant cost pressures to maintain State Responsibility
Areas and fire hazard severity zone maps. In addition, I
am also concerned with the cost pressures this bill will
place upon local governments to implement this measure."
b) AB 666 (Jones, 2009), vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger,
would have required 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
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high fire hazard severity zone as designated by CAL FIRE.
c) 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.
d) 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 Professional Firefighters
CA Native Plant Society
CA State Firefighters' Association, Inc.
Fire Districts Association of CA
League of CA Cities
Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority
Orange County Professional Firefighters' Association
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Sierra Club CA
Opposition
CA State Association of Counties (unless amended)
Regional Council of Rural Counties (unless amended)
Analysis Prepared by : Katie Kolitsos / L. GOV. / (916)
319-3958