BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1241
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Date of Hearing: June 13, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Cameron Smyth, Chair
SB 1241 (Kehoe) - As Amended: June 7, 2012
SENATE VOTE : 29-9
SUBJECT : Land use: general plan: safety element: fire hazard
impacts.
SUMMARY : Requires cities and counties to address fire risk for
state responsibility areas and very high fire hazard severity
zones in general plan updates and subdivision approvals, and
requires the Office of Planning and Research (OPR) to update the
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines and the
General Plan Guidelines, as specified. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Requires OPR, when it adopts its next edition of the General
Plan Guidelines pursuant to existing law, to include specified
provisions or a reference to provisions mandating the update
of the safety element, and any other materials related to fire
hazards or fire safety it deems appropriate.
2)Requires cities and counties, upon the next revision of the
housing element on or after January 1, 2013, to review and
update the safety element as necessary to address the risk of
fire for land classified as state responsibility areas (SRAs),
and land classified as very high fire hazard severity zones;
requires the review to consider the advice included in OPR's
most recent publication of "Fire Hazard Planning, General
Technical Advice Series;" and, requires the review to also
include all of the following:
a) Information regarding fire hazards, including, but not
limited to, all of the following:
i) Fire hazard severity zone maps available from the
Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE);
ii) Any historical data on wildfires available from
local agencies or a reference to where the data can be
found;
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iii) Information about wildfire hazard areas that may be
available from the United States Geological Survey;
iv) General location and distribution of existing and
planned uses of land in very high fire hazard severity
zones and in SRAs, including the structures, roads,
utilities, and essential public facilities. The location
and distribution of planned uses of land shall not
require defensible space compliance measures required by
state law or local ordinance to occur on publicly owned
lands or open space designations of homeowner
associations; and,
v) Local, state, and federal agencies with
responsibility for fire protection, including special
districts and local offices of emergency services.
b) A set of goals, policies and objectives based on the
information identified above in 2a) for the protection of
the community from unreasonable risk of wildfire;
c) A set of feasible implementation measures designed to
carry out the goals, policies, and objectives based on the
information identified pursuant to 2b) including, but not
limited to, all of the following:
i) Avoiding or minimizing the wildfire hazards
associated with new uses of land;
ii) Locating, when feasible, new essential public
facilities outside of high fire risk areas, including,
but not limited to, hospitals and health care facilities,
emergency shelters, emergency command centers, and
emergency communications facilities, or identifying
construction methods or other methods to minimize damage
if these facilities are located in an SRA or very high
fire hazard severity zone;
iii) Designing adequate infrastructure if a new
development is located in an SRA or in a very high fire
hazard severity zone, including safe access for emergency
response vehicles, visible street signs, and water
supplies for structural fire suppression; and,
iv) Working cooperatively with public agencies with
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responsibility for fire protection.
d) If a city or county has adopted a fire safety plan or
document separate from the general plan, an attachment of,
or reference to, a city or county's adopted fire safety
plan or document that fulfills commensurate goals and
objectives and contains information required pursuant to
the bill's provisions.
3)Requires the legislative body of a county to make the
following three findings before approving a tentative map, or
a parcel map for which a tentative map is not required, for an
area located in an SRA or a very high fire hazard severity
zone:
a) A finding supported by substantial evidence in the
record that the design and location
of each lot in the subdivision, and the subdivision as a
whole, are consistent with any applicable regulations
adopted by the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection
pursuant to existing law;
b) A finding supported by substantial evidence in the
record that structural fire protection and suppression
services will be available for the subdivision through any
of the following entities:
i) A county, city, special district, political
subdivision of the state, or another entity organized
solely to provide fire protection services that is
monitored and funded by a county or other public entity;
or,
ii) CAL FIRE, by contract entered into pursuant to
existing law, as specified.
c) A finding to the extent practicable, ingress and egress
for the subdivision meets the regulations regarding road
standards for fire equipment access adopted pursuant to
existing law and any applicable local ordinance.
4)Provides that the provisions of 3) above shall not supersede
regulations established by the State Board of Forestry and
Fire Protection or local ordinances that provide equivalent or
more stringent minimum requirements.
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5)Requires, on or after January 1, 2013, OPR, in cooperation
with CAL FIRE, at the time of the next review of the CEQA
guidelines, to prepare, develop, and transmit to the Secretary
of the Natural Resources Agency recommended proposed changes
or amendments to the initial study checklist of the guidelines
for the inclusion of questions related to fire hazard impacts
for project on land classified as an SRA, and on lands
classified as very high fire hazard severity zones.
6)Requires the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, upon
receipt and review, to certify and adopt the recommended
proposed changes or amendments prepared and developed by the
OPR to the CEQA guidelines.
7)Provides that no reimbursement is required by the bill's
provisions because a local agency has the authority to levy
service charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for
the program or level of service.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Defines SRAs to mean areas of the state in which the financial
responsibility of preventing and suppressing fires has been
determined, as specified, to be primarily the responsibility
of the state.
2)Defines lands classified as a very high fire hazard severity
zone to mean an area designated by the director of CAL FIRE,
as specified, that is not an SRA.
3)Requires the director of 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.
4)Requires the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to identify
as SRAs all lands where the state has the primary financial
responsibility for preventing and suppressing fires.
5)Requires the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to map SRAs
and provide this map to county assessors and update this map
every five years.
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6)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
municipal corporations.
7)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.
8)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.
9)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 of Forestry
and Fire Protection for its review and comment prior to its
adoption or amendment.
10)Regulates, through the Subdivision Map Act, how local
officials approve the conversion of larger parcels into
marketable lots.
11)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).
12)Requires, under CEQA, an initial study to be prepared to
determine whether a project may have a significant effect on
the environment.
13)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.
14)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.
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FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, this bill contains ongoing costs between $100,000 and
$250,000 from the General Fund from 2013-14 through 2018-19, for
the Board of Forestry to review safety element updates as
required by this bill, and one-time costs of $285,000 from the
General Fund for 2013-14 for the update of CEQA guidelines.
COMMENTS :
1)In 2005, the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) reported that
there are 31 million acres in SRAs and that local land use
decisions are responsible for the increased density of homes
in the wildland-urban interface. According to the 2010 U.S.
Census, the number of people living in inland Southern
California's most fire-prone places alone increased by more
than 50% during the past decade.
2)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 annual wildfires, state and local
officials have thought about how to reduce the loss of lives
and property and address high costs of local fire protection
agencies when fighting 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.
3)CAL FIRE provides wildland fire protection on non-federal
lands outside cities. To meet this duty, the State Board of
Forestry and Fire Protection designates SRAs every five years.
Within SRA lands, the Director of CAL FIRE designates fire
hazard severity zones. SRA landowners must follow specified
fire prevention practices. After the 1991 Oakland-Berkeley
fire storm, the Legislature required CAL FIRE to designate
very high fire hazard severity zones. Landowners in these
areas must follow specified fire prevention practices.
4)This bill requires a city or county to review and update the
safety element in the general plan upon the next revision of
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the housing element on or after January 1, 2013, to include
information regarding local fire hazards, and feasible
implementation measures for the protection of designated areas
from wildfire hazards for lands located in SRAs or very high
fire hazard severity zones. Second, the bill requires OPR, in
its next update of the CEQA Guidelines, to cooperate with CAL
FIRE in recommending changes to the CEQA initial study
checklist to include questions related to fire hazard impacts
for projects in SRAs or very high fire hazard severity zone
lands, and requires OPR, in its update of the General Plan
Guidelines to include provisions related to fire hazards, as
specified. Finally, the bill requires a local government to
make three specific findings before approving a tentative map
or parcel map. The findings must specify that the design and
location of each lot in the subdivision meet certain
applicable regulations adopted by the State Board of Forestry
and Fire Protection, that structural fire protection and
suppression services will be available for the subdivision,
and that ingress and egress to the subdivision meet existing
regulations for road standards for fire equipment access.
This bill is author-sponsored.
5)According to the author, in the wake of the 2003 and 2007
wildland fires that swept across Southern California and
annual state fire suppression costs that peaked in 2008 at $1
billion, the relationship between land use planning, fire
prevention, and fire suppression strategies has taken on added
significance.
The author notes that "given the rising costs of fire
suppression, 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 for
projects in SRAs and very high fire hazard severity zones.
6)This bill is the latest in a series of bills proposing better
land use planning for wildland fires, including the following
bills:
SB 1207 (Kehoe, 2010), vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger, a
measure substantially similar to SB 505. In his veto message,
the Governor stated that "this bill is almost identical to a
measure I vetoed last year because it would have placed
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significant fiscal pressures on the state's General Fund and
on already strapped local government budgets. Yet, this bill
does not address the concerns I expressed in last year's veto
message. For this reason I am unable to sign this bill."
SB 505 (Kehoe, 2009), vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger. 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."
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 high fire
hazard severity zone as designated by CAL FIRE.
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.
AB 2447 (Jones, 2008), almost identical to 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.
7)The Counties of Napa and Nevada are opposed to the provisions
of the bill that create an unfunded mandate with the
additional requirements placed on local governments to update
their general plans. These counties believe that the state
has already "approved a substantial and burdensome fee on
persons living in SRAs in order to provide those landowners
with fire protection."
8)Support arguments : According to the California Fire Chiefs
Association and the Fire Districts Association of California,
the provisions contained in the bill address very critical
public safety issues, and the Fire Service has long supported
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the front-end planning provisions contained in SB 1241.
Opposition arguments : The Boards of Supervisors in both Napa
and Nevada County write that "general plan updates are
time-intensive and expensive?the State provides no funding for
local agencies to do this mandated activity, yet continues to
add additional requirements on local governments updating
their general plans."
9)This bill is double-referred to the Assembly Natural Resources
Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
American Planning Association of California
California Fire Chiefs Association
California Native Plant Society
California Professional Firefighters
Endangered Habitats League
Fire Districts Association of California
Sierra Club California
Opposition
Napa County Board of Supervisors
Nevada County Board of Supervisors
Analysis Prepared by : Debbie Michel / L. GOV. / (916)
319-3958
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