BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: ab 1309
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: miller
VERSION: 6/27/11
Analysis by: Michelle Leinfelder
FISCAL:no
Hearing date: July 5, 2011
SUBJECT:
Public roads: fire suppression
DESCRIPTION:
This bill grants, until January 1, 2017, a county board of
supervisors authority to improve or repair a public road that is
not a county highway and is not in the county-maintained system,
if the improvements or repairs are necessary for the purpose of
fire suppression.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law allows, if a state of local emergency due to heavy
rainfall or flood is declared, a county board of supervisors to
authorize the expenditure of road funds for the purpose of
emergency repairs to public roads that are not county highways
and not in the county-maintained system. A board may take such
action without obtaining a grant or lease of right-of-way, if
the repairs are necessary to provide minimum public access for
the protection or preservation of the health or safety of
residents. Existing law deems the county shall not be
responsible for the maintenance of these roads after they are
repaired and relieves the county of liability for the condition
of the road after the emergency repairs are made.
Existing law also allows county boards of supervisors to improve
or repair a privately-owned road of general county interest,
after adopting a resolution by a four-fifths vote of their
membership and if the owner grants or leases the right-of-way
for the purpose of improvements or repairs. Such improvements or
repairs must be made and paid for in the same manner as
improvements to or repairs of county highways.
This bill :
AB 1309 (MILLER) Page 2
Allows a county board of supervisors, by adopting a
resolution with four-fifths vote of its membership, to
improve or repair a public road that is not a county
highway and is not in the county-maintained system, if the
improvements or repairs are necessary for the purpose of
fire suppression.
Requires that the improvements or repairs be made and
paid for in the same manner as improvements or repairs of
county highways, but does not require that the road become
a county highway.
Repeals the authority on January 1, 2017.
COMMENTS:
Purpose . This bill will authorize county boards of supervisors
to vote to appropriate funds to make necessary, preventative
improvements or repairs to public, non-county-maintained roads
for the purposes of fire suppression, in advance of a
declaration of a local state of emergency due to fire. The
author states that current law only enables a board of
supervisors to authorize such funds when there is a declared
local emergency due to heavy rainfall or flooding and when the
repairs are necessary to provide minimum public access for the
protection or preservation of the health and safety of its
residents.
The sponsor of the bill, the Orange County Board of Supervisors,
provides an example of Black Star Canyon Road. On August 12,
2010, county counsel discussed the possibility for the road to
become a county highway through common law dedication. The
matter remains unresolved, however, because in 1987, the county
declared the roadway a non-maintained county highway and closed
the road to public motor vehicles. During the 2007 Santiago
Fire, fire-fighting equipment could not traverse Black Star
Canyon Road because the road includes three bridges that would
not have supported the equipment. This bill allows for
preventative improvements to be made on a public road for the
purpose of fire suppression, prior to a declaration of a fire
emergency, by allowing the county to use public road funds.
Assembly Votes:
Floor:77-0
L Gov: 9-0
AB 1309 (MILLER) Page 3
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the Committee before noon on
Wednesday, June 29,
2011)
SUPPORT: Orange County Board of Supervisors (Sponsor)
Regional Council of Rural Counties
OPPOSED: None received.