BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1506
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 25, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1506 (Jeffries) - As Amended: March 8, 2012
Policy Committee: Natural
ResourcesVote:7-2
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill repeals, as of January 1, 2013, the fire prevention
fee on structures located in State Responsibility Areas (SRA),
which is to be collected starting in the summer of 2012.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Forgone fee revenue of approximately $84 million in 2012-13
(SRA Fire Prevention Fund).
2)General Fund pressure of approximately $78 million in 2012-13
to fund fire prevention activities at the Department of
Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) and the California
Conservation Corps (CCC) that otherwise would be funded by the
fire prevention fee.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale. The author contends the fire prevention fee is a
rural fire tax that will be unfairly applied and will do
nothing to improve wildland firefighting ability.
2)Background . Statute makes the state responsible for wildland
fire protection in State Responsibility Areas, which are
generally defined to include most nonfederal timberlands,
rangelands and watersheds thinly populated and not within the
boundaries of a city. Over 31 million acres of state land,
much of it privately owned, are located in the SRA. In the
past, SRA were largely unpopulated. In recent years, however,
local governments have allowed increased housing development
in the SRA. The result is a greater number of houses in the
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SRA but at a level of density that nonetheless maintains the
state's obligation to provide wildland fire protection.
As housing development in the SRA increased, so did CAL FIRE
fire protection costs. In 1996-97, the department spent $475
million on fire protection; in more recent years, CAL FIRE's
annual fire protection costs neared or surpassed $1 billion.
The Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) attributes much of the
increase in CAL FIRE's fire protection costs to increased
housing development in the SRA. The LAO notes that as housing
development in SRA has increased, the department has spent
greater resources responding to events other than wildfires
for which the state is not legally responsible, such as
structural fires and medical emergencies. Because the LAO
concludes that much of CAL FIRE's nonwildfire activities
provide private benefits, it has long recommended a fee on
owners of private land in the SRA to pay for a portion of CAL
FIRE's fire protection costs.
The Legislature has made several attempts at imposing such a
fee. In 2003, the budget bill included a $35 fee on the owner
of each parcel of land within the SRA. Many expressed concern
that the per-parcel fee failed to reflect the greater fire
protection benefit received by those who own larger parcels of
land. The following year, before the fee was collected, the
Legislature passed another bill repealing the fee. Other fire
fee bills were introduced in subsequent years.
In 2011 the Legislature passed ABx1 29 (Blumenfield),
requiring the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to adopt
emergency regulations to establish a fire prevention fee. The
fee, not to exceed $150 on each structure, was to raise $50
million to fund CAL FIRE fire prevention activities. In
January of this year, the board issued its regulation,
establishing a fee of $150 per habitable structure on a parcel
located with the SRA, with a $35 exemption for each habitable
structure that is also within the boundaries of a local agency
that provides fire protection services.
3)Related Legislation. AB 2474 (Chesbro) would require the
board, by July 1, 2013, to amend its fire prevention fee
regulations so that the fee would be (a) discounted by the
amount paid by a structure owner to a local agency for fire
protection services, up to $150, and (b) adjusted to account
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for the history of fire and fire severity in the local area.
The bill is pending action before the Assembly Natural
Resources Committee.
4)Support. This bill is supported by the California Professional
Firefighters, the California Fire Chiefs Association and many
other organizations who contend the fee represents double
taxation for those who already pay local governments for fire
protection and may make voters less likely to approve future
augmentations to local fire protection funding.
5)Opposition . There is no opposition formally registered to
this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081