SEC. 24.
(a) The Treasurer shall annually transfer an amount equal to 1 percent of all state revenues that may be appropriated pursuant to Article XIII B, from the General Fund to the California Fire Response Fund, hereby created within the State Treasury. The first annual transfer shall occur in the first fiscal year following the effective date of this section.(b) Moneys in the California Fire Response Fund are hereby continuously appropriated, notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, in each fiscal year exclusively for the purposes specified in this subdivision and shall not be appropriated for any other purpose and shall not supplant existing state or local funds used for those purposes. Moneys in the California Fire Response Fund shall be appropriated as follows:
(1) Twenty percent of the moneys in the California Fire Response Fund shall be appropriated to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to fund fire suppression staffing.
(2) Eighty percent of the moneys in the California Fire Response Fund shall be deposited in the Special District Fire Response Fund, which is hereby created as a subaccount within the California Fire Response Fund, and appropriated to special districts that provide fire protection services in accordance with the following criteria:
(A) Fifty percent of the amount described in this paragraph shall be used to fund fire suppression staffing in underfunded special districts that provide fire protection services, were formed after July 1, 1978, and employ full-time or full-time-equivalent station-based personnel who are immediately available to comprise at least 50 percent of an initial full alarm assignment.
(B) Twenty-five percent of the amount described in this paragraph shall be used to fund fire suppression staffing in special districts that provide fire protection services, were formed before July 1, 1978, are underfunded due to a disproportionately low share of property tax revenue and an increase in service level demands since July 1, 1978, and employ full-time or full-time-equivalent station-based personnel who are immediately available to comprise at least 50 percent of an initial full alarm assignment.
(C) Twenty-five percent of the amount described in this paragraph shall be used to fund fire suppression staffing in underfunded special districts that provide fire protection services and employ full-time or full-time-equivalent station-based personnel who are immediately available to comprise at least 30 percent but less than 50 percent of an initial full alarm assignment.
(3) In determining whether a special district that provides fire protection services is underfunded for purposes of paragraph (2), the Legislature shall take into account the following factors, in order of priority:
(A) The degree to which the special district’s property tax revenue is insufficient to sustain adequate fire suppression, as measured against the population density, size of the service area, and number of taxpayers within the boundaries of the special district.
(B) Whether the special district, upon formation, received a property tax allocation in accordance with Chapter 282 of the Statutes of 1979.
(C) Geographic diversity.
(4) The allocation of moneys to a special district that qualifies pursuant to paragraph (2) shall be in the form of grants, with a term of not less than 10 years, in order to ensure that the special district can engage in responsible budgeting and sustain adequate fire suppression services over the long term.