CURRENT STATUS: 04/15/2015 In ASSEMBLY Committee on APPROPRIATIONS: To Suspense File. (Note: The Suspense File is where the Appropriations Committee sends any bill with an annual cost of more than $150,000 (any fund). Suspense File bills are then considered at one hearing after the state budget has been prepared and the committee has a better sense of available revenue. No testimony is presented – author or witness – at the Suspense File hearing.)
SUMMARY: This bill extends the period of time owners of structures have to pay or request redetermination of the fire prevention fee from 30 days to 60 days.
FISCAL EFFECT:
1) Annual revenue loss (special fund) in the $375,000 to $500,000 range.
Annual fee assessments are due and payable to the Board of Equalization (BOE) 30 days from the date of assessment. During FYs 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14, interest and penalties paid totaled $4,617,894.. Of that amount, $1,493,882 in interest and penalties was remitted on fees paid between 31 and 60 days from the date of assessment. Under this bill, this amount would not have been paid. Assuming delinquencies were the same over those three years, the annual average revenue loss is therefore computed as: $1,493,882 / 3 = $497,961.
However, BOE staff notes that the payments made after 60 days continues to decline, at an average annual rate of two percent. Meanwhile, timely payments made within the 30-day period have improved, in part due to BOE outreach efforts. Given the continued improvement in timely payments, BOE staff estimates the annual average revenue loss attributable to penalties and interest at $382,700.
2) Unknown, likely minor, one-time costs (special fund) for BOE to reprogram computers and revise information and publications.
3) No additional costs to CALFIRE
COMMENTS:
1) Purpose. This bill is sponsored by BOE Member George Runner to provide additional time for feepayers to review their assessments and either dispute the fee or adjust their budgets and pay their fees in a timely manner.
2) Background. The state is responsible for wildland fire protection in state responsibility areas (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, CALFIRE's annual fire protection costs neared or surpassed $1 billion.
The Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) attributes much of the increase in CALFIRE'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 concludes that much of CALFIRE'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 CALFIRE'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 CALFIRE 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 $117.33 for habitable structures within a fire protection district.
4) BOE Tax and Fee Programs. The BOE administers more than 30 tax and fee programs, none of which provides a 60-day period to pay the tax or fee or file a petition for redetermination.
5) Previous Legislation. Last year a similar measure, AB 1413 (Wyland) was held on suspense in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
Contra Costa County would not have a position on the bill.