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AB-1202 Fire prevention fee: fee reduction.(2015-2016)

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AB1202:v98#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Assembly  May 05, 2015

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2015–2016 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 1202

Introduced by Assembly Member Mayes
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Travis Allen, Bigelow, Gallagher, Jones, and Mathis)

February 27, 2015

An act to amend Section 4213.1 of the Public Resources Code, relating to fire prevention.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 1202, as amended, Mayes. Fire prevention fee: fee reduction.
Existing law requires the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to adopt emergency regulations to establish a fire prevention fee to be charged on each habitable structure, as defined, on a parcel that is within a state responsibility area. Existing law requires that the fee be levied upon the owner of a habitable structure identified by the department as located within the state responsibility area, if that person owns the habitable structure on July 1 of the year for which the fee is due. Existing law authorizes the board to exempt from the fire prevention fee any habitable structure that is subsequently deemed inhabitable as a result of a natural disaster during the year the fee is due, if certain conditions are met.
This bill would require the board to reduce the amount of the fee to be charged on a habitable structure by an amount equal to the amount paid by the owner of the structure to a local fire district for fire prevention services during the year for which the fee is due, if the owner of the structure provides the board with written documentation of the amount paid to the local fire district for those services. The bill would require the board to adopt guidelines to clarify the type of written documentation the owner of a structure is required to provide to the board to receive a fee reduction pursuant to those provisions.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 4213.1 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read:

4213.1.
 (a) The fire prevention fee imposed pursuant to Section 4212 shall be levied upon the owner of a habitable structure identified by the department as located within the state responsibility area, if that person owns the habitable structure on July 1 of the year for which the fee is due.
(b) (1) The board may exempt from the fire prevention fee any habitable structure that is subsequently deemed uninhabitable as a result of a natural disaster during the year for which the fee is due, as well as one subsequent year if the habitable structure has not been repaired or rebuilt. The board shall consider granting an exemption only if both of the following conditions are met:
(A) The owner of the habitable structure certifies that the structure is not habitable as a result of a natural disaster.
(B) The owner of the habitable structure either documents that the habitable structure passed a defensible space inspection conducted by the department or by one of its agents within one year of the date the structure was damaged or destroyed or certifies that clearance as required under Section 4291 was in place at the time that the structure was damaged or destroyed as a result of a natural disaster.
(2) The board shall prepare forms for purposes of the certification requirements in paragraph (1).
(c) (1) The board shall reduce the amount of the fire prevention fee to be charged on a habitable structure by an amount equal to the amount paid by the owner of the structure to a local fire district for fire prevention services during the year for which the fee is due, if the owner of the structure provides the board with written documentation of the amount paid to the local protection district for those services.
(2) The board shall adopt guidelines to clarify the type of written documentation the owner of a structure is required to provide to the board to receive a fee reduction pursuant to this subdivision.