BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2048
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 30, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 2048 (Dahle) - As Introduced: February 20, 2014
Policy Committee: Natural
ResourcesVote:9-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill modifies the fire prevention fee on structures located
in State Responsibility Areas (SRA). Specifically, this bill:
1)Provides fee relief for any habitable structure deemed
uninhabitable as a result of a natural disaster for two years.
Relief is conditioned on certified inhabitability and
verifiable compliance with defensible space and clearing
requirements at the time the property was damaged or
destroyed.
2)Eliminates the 20% penalty for each 30-day period the fee is
unpaid and replaces it with a 10% penalty.
3)Authorizes rather than requires the Board of Forestry and Fire
Protection (Board) to adjust the fee annually for inflation.
4)Adds an administrative appeal procedure for late protest and
requires the protest petition to be sent to CAL FIRE instead
of CAL FIRE, the Board and the Board of Equalization (BOE).
5)Replaces the term "structure" with the term "habitable
structure" consistent with the term used in the fee
regulations promulgated by the Board.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Unknown revenue loss (SRA fund) due to the fee relief for
natural disasters, potentially in the range of $20,000 to
$140,000 annually. Any loss in SRA fund that brings revenues
below expenses will have to be backfilled by GF.
AB 2048
Page 2
The 2014-15 SRA fees are $117.33 for structures within a local
fire protection district and $152.33 for structures not within
a local district. Assuming between 100 and 500 structures
are damaged per year for each type of structure, the revenue
loss would range from $11,733 to $58,666 for structures within
a district and $15,233 to $76,165 for structures outside a
district.
2)Revenue loss (SRA fund) in the $100,000 range for reducing
penalties from 20% to 10%.
3)Unknown potential revenue loss for inflation adjustments at
the Board's discretion.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose. According to the author, this bill provides
homeowners with fee relief after a catastrophic fire or
natural disaster and aligns penalty provisions with other
BOE-administered fees.
2)Background. The state is responsible for wildland fire
protection in SRA, 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, much privately owned, are located in SRA. In
the past, SRA lands were largely unpopulated. In recent
years, however, local governments have allowed increased
housing development in SRA but at a level of density that
maintains the state's obligation to provide wildland fire
protection.
As housing development in SRA increased, so did state 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 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
AB 2048
Page 3
concludes that much of CAL FIRE's nonwildfire activities
provide private benefits, LAO has long recommended a fee on
owners of private land in SRA to pay for a portion of CAL
FIRE's fire protection costs.
3)SRA Fire Protection Fees. 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 2012, the board issued its regulation,
establishing a fee of $150 per habitable structure on a parcel
located within SRA, with a $35 reduction for each habitable
structure that is also within the boundaries of a local agency
that provides fire protection services. Revenues from the fee
are to be used exclusively for fire protection. In
authorizing the fee, the Legislature recognized that
individual owners within SRA received a disproportionately
larger benefit from fire prevention activities than realized
by the state's residents generally.
As required by law, the fee was adjusted for inflation and is
currently $152.33 per habitable structure outside a fire
protection district and $177.33 for habitable structures
within a fire protection district.
Analysis Prepared by : Jennifer Galehouse / APPR. / (916)
319-2081