SRA Fee Update

Just prior to the California Legislature’s deadline to pass the State Budget, they passed ABX1 29 as a budget trailer bill.The bill set a $150 maximum fee per habitable structure within State Responsibility Areas (SRA).Governor Brown signed the bill into law.

The law requires the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection (Board) to establish emergency regulations by September 1, 2011 to implement the fees, which the Board has completed. Once the emergency regulations are in place, the Board has 180 days to promulgate the permanent regulations. That process requires a public comment period of 45 days.

The emergency regulations established by the Board considered a number of factors when imposing the fees on habitable structures in SRA, including:

A habitable structure is considered a dwelling
Value of the property is at least $5000
Portion of the fee goes to pay for the cost incurred by the Board of Equalization
High or Very Fire Hazard Severity Zone residents pay a higher fee
Portion to support statewide mapping of fire hazard severity zones
A portion of the fee will support grants for fire safe projects

The fee would be reduced based on:

Fire safety regulations and/or a “Safety Element” within the jurisdiction/county
Current inspection and compliance with Cal Fire regulations
Property owners who pay a local fire protection fee

Based on the above factors, anyimposed fee would obviously vary based on the specific circumstances of each property, but the maximum fee would be $90 and decrease from there based on reductions and credits.

After the Board‘s hearings and publication of the emergency regulations, there were a number of concerns raised over the level and purpose of the established fees. Governor Brown’s staff and Department of Finance intended to fund $50 million of Cal Fire’s budget gap within the current fiscal year. There was an apparent disconnect and obvious lack of communication between the administration and the Board regarding the approach to the fees. It appeared the Administration was trying to backfill a fiscal deficit while the Board was focused on trying to apply appropriate public policy principles.

As a result, SB X1 7 and AB X1 24 were both introduced just prior to the end of the legislative session, which ended on September 9 in an effort to raise more money. These bills were identical in content. They reset the amounts at $175 for the base fee with a maximum reduction of $25 if the building were within an organized fire protection district. Thus, the maximum fee would be $150 if also covered by a fire district. An added element to the new bills was that $1 per acre would also be charged with a maximum fee of $3000 for large acreage parcels. The bills also changed the definition to a “building”, which added a lot of structures that may not have been included in the original proposal.

FDAC testified against these bills when they were considered in committee. The bills had virtually no support at any level. They failed to get anywhere prior to the end of the legislative session.

The current status is that SB X1 7 and AB X1 24 both failed to move prior to the end of the legislative session, so are dead for now. Since AB X1 29 has already been signed into law as part of the budget and the emergency regulations have been established, Cal Fire staff and the Board of Equalization are working on the process to get SRA bills out. There has been approximately $1 million spent so far out of their budgets to implement the fee billing process and more expected since staff will need to be hired to handle the expected appeals of the fees.

In the meantime, the Board will be considering the permanent regulations, which could look similar to the emergency regulations or be completely different. FDAC will continue to work with the Board on those regulations and provide updates as they are available.

We are also watching to see if the Legislature further engages in changes to the law during the budget discussions expected to occur in the near future. The State’s budget has some “triggers” for cuts or other changes after review of revenue and expenditure status. It would be no surprise if the Governor were to call the Legislature into emergency session based on the current projections of deficits. It would also be no surprise to see that they intend to amend the fee structure with further statutory changes.

FDAC would like to recognize the leadership of Legislative Committee Chair Chief Mike McMurry who has been the voice of fire districts in our attempt to address our concerns about any SRA fees in front of the Forestry Board and the Legislature. FDAC Legislative Advocate Ralph Heim has also been instrumental in advocating our opposition. This issue has been a priority for FDAC’s Legislative Committee who all actively engaged in trying to defeat what we view as a bad approach to resolving a state fiscal issue SRA fees.

FDAC will update its members with all further details on SRA fees and other fire service public policy issues.