BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1241
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 1241 (Kehoe)
As Amended June 25, 2012
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :29-9
LOCAL GOVERNMENT 7-1 NATURAL RESOURCES 6-0
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|Ayes:|Smyth, Alejo, Bradford, |Ayes:|Chesbro, Brownley, |
| |Campos, Davis, Gordon, | |Dickinson, Huffman, |
| |Hueso | |Monning, Skinner |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Norby | | |
| | | | |
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APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
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|Ayes:|Gatto, Blumenfield, | | |
| |Bradford, Charles | | |
| |Calderon, Campos, Davis, | | |
| |Fuentes, Hall, Hill, | | |
| |Cedillo, Mitchell, | | |
| |Solorio | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Harkey, Donnelly, | | |
| |Nielsen, Norby, Wagner | | |
| | | | |
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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
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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, 2014, 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;
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
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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
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
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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.
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 projects 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
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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.
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.
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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.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee,
this bill contains:
1)Ongoing General Fund (GF) cost of approximately $200,000 annually,
from 2013-14 through 2018-19, to the Board of Forestry and Fire
Protection to review approximately 50 safety element updates
annually and to develop recommended changes to them.
(CAL FIRE reports it will incur one-time costs of $1.2 million
assistance to local governments in the preparation of their safety
elements. Such assistance is not explicitly required by this
bill. CAL FIRE, however, contends such assistance will be
necessary to ensure the bill is implemented effectively.)
2)Onetime GF cost of approximately $150,000 to $200,000, in 2012-13
or later, to OPR to prepare and develop proposed changes or
amendments to the CEQA guidelines for the inclusion of questions
related to fire hazard impacts for projects on land classified as
SRA or as very high fire hazard severity zones.
3)Onetime GF cost of $150,000 to $500,000, in 2012-13 or later, to
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CAL FIRE to assist OPR in preparing and developing proposed
changes to the CEQA guidelines.
4)Onetime GF costs, in 2012-13 or later, of approximately $100,000
to the Natural Resources Agency to review, certify and adopt OPR's
proposed changes or amendments to the CEQA guidelines.
COMMENTS : 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.
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.
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 firestorm, the Legislature required CAL
FIRE to designate very high fire hazard severity zones. Landowners
in these areas must follow specified fire prevention practices.
This bill requires a city or county to review and update the safety
element in the general plan upon the next revision of the housing
element on or after January 1, 2014, to include information
regarding local fire hazards, and feasible implementation measures
for the protection of designated areas from wildfire hazards for
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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.
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."
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) of 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 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) of 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
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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) of 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) of 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) of 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.
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 the front-end
planning provisions contained in this bill.
Opposition arguments: None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Debbie Michel / L. GOV. / (916) 319-3958
FN: 0004974