BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2048|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2048
Author: Dahle (R), Chesbro (D), and Gordon, (D), et al.
Amended: 8/4/14 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER COMMITTEE : 9-0, 6/10/14
AYES: Pavley, Cannella, Evans, Fuller, Hueso, Jackson, Lara,
Monning, Wolk
SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE : 6-0, 6/25/14
AYES: Wolk, Knight, Beall, DeSaulnier, Hernandez, Walters
NO VOTE RECORDED: Liu
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-0, 8/14/14
AYES: De Le�n, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
NO VOTE RECORDED: Walters, Gaines
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-0, 5/27/14 See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Fire prevention fees: state responsibility areas
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill enacts several modifications to the fire
prevention fee located in State Responsibility Areas (SRAs).
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
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1. Establishes the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
(CAL FIRE), which, among other things, is responsible for the
fire protection, fire prevention, maintenance, and
enhancement of the state's forest, range, and brushland
resources, contract fire protection, associated emergency
services, and assistance in civil disasters and other nonfire
emergencies.
2. Creates, within CAL FIRE, the Board of Forestry and Fire
Protection Board (Board) consisting of nine members appointed
by the Governor. Requires the Board to protect the state's
interest in forest resources on private lands, which includes
establishing adequate forest policy and determining general
policies for CAL FIRE.
3. Requires the Board to classify all lands within the state for
the purpose of determining areas in which the financial
responsibility of preventing and suppressing fires is
primarily the responsibility of the state, these areas are
known as 'state responsibility areas' (SRA).
4. Requires the Board to adopt regulations to establish a fire
prevention fee in an amount not to exceed $150 (which must be
adjusted every year for inflation) to be charged on each
"structure" on a parcel that is within the SRA. Defines
"structure" as a building used or intended to be used for
human habitation, including a mobile home or manufactured
home. Reduces the fire prevention fee by $35 if the
structure is also within the boundaries of a local agency
that provides fire protection services (this reduction
applies to most structures).
5. Requires the fire prevention fees to be deposited in the SRA
Fund, which is available to the Board and CAL FIRE to expend
for fire prevention activities that benefit the owners of
structures within the SRA who are required to pay the fire
prevention fee.
6. Allows a person to petition for a redetermination of whether
the fire prevention fee applies to him/her within 30 days
after being served with a notice of determination (i.e., the
notice from CAL FIRE stating that a person must pay the fire
prevention fee). Requires the petition to be sent to CAL
FIRE, the Board, and the Board of Equalization (BOE).
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AB 2048
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7. Imposes a 20% penalty for each 30-day period in which the fee
remains unpaid after the fee becomes final.
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 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 BOE.
5. Replaces the term "structure" with the term "habitable
structure" consistent with the term used in the fee
regulations promulgated by the Board.
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.
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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, CAL FIRE 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, 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.
SRA Fire Protection Fees . In 2011 the Legislature passed AB
29X1 (Blumenfield, Chapter 8, Statutes of 2011 First
Extraordinary Session), 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's 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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
CAL FIRE estimates that, assuming fee relief is provided for
500 structures, fee revenues will decline by up to $135,000
annually (Responsibility Area Fire Prevention Fund).
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The BOE indicates that reducing the penalty will result in
revenue losses of about $100,000 annually (Responsibility Area
Fire Prevention Fund). BOE's costs to administer the bill
will be minor and absorbable.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/15/14)
California Farm Bureau
California Forestry Association
California State Firefighters Association
Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
CalTax
Nevada County Board of Supervisors
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office, this
bill clarifies the statute and help homeowners seek much needed
relief from the fee after a catastrophic fire or other natural
disaster while posing minimal fiscal impact.
CAL FIRE is in support and states that the proposed definitions
of "person" and "habitable structure" will help alleviate some
of the original bill's implementation issues. In addition, this
bill simplifies the appeals process. It says that existing law
does not exempt structures damaged or destroyed by natural
disaster, even if this bill for the fee arrives months after the
structure has been damaged.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-0, 5/27/14
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley,
Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox,
Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon,
Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hern�ndez,
Holden, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal,
Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi,
Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Perea, John A. P�rez, V.
Manuel P�rez, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas,
Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski,
Wilk, Williams, Yamada, Atkins
NO VOTE RECORDED: Patterson, Quirk-Silva, Vacancy
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RM:d 8/16/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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