BILL NUMBER: SB 147INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Senator Gaines JANUARY 31, 2013 An act to amend Section 4212 of the Public Resources Code, relating to fire prevention, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 147, as introduced, Gaines. State responsibility areas: fire prevention fees. (1) Existing law requires the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, on or before September 1, 2011, to adopt emergency regulations to establish a fire prevention fee in an amount not to exceed $150 to be charged on each structure on a parcel that is within a state responsibility area, and requires the board to adjust the fire prevention fee annually using prescribed methods. Existing law requires the State Board of Equalization to collect the fees, as prescribed. This bill would exempt a property owner of a structure on a parcel that is within a state responsibility area from payment of the fire prevention fee imposed pursuant to those provisions if the property owner has an income of less than 200% of the federal poverty level, as specified. (2) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 4212 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read: 4212. (a) (1) By September 1, 2011, the board shall adopt emergency regulations to establish a fire prevention fee for the purposes of this chapter in an amount not to exceed one hundred fifty dollars ($150) to be charged on each structure on a parcel that is within a state responsibility area. (2) The Legislature finds and declares that a fire prevention fee of not more than one hundred fifty dollars ($150) is a reasonable amount for the necessary fire prevention activities of the state that benefit the owner of a structure within a state responsibility area. (b) On July 1, 2013, and annually thereafter, the board shall adjust the fire prevention fees imposed pursuant to this chapter to reflect the percentage of change in the average annual value of the Implicit Price Deflator for State and Local Government Purchases of Goods and Services for the United States, as calculated by the United States Department of Commerce for the 12-month period in the third quarter of the prior calendar year, as reported by the Department of Finance. (c) Emergency regulations adopted pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be adopted in accordance with the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code). The adoption of emergency regulations shall be deemed an emergency and necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, and safety, or general welfare. (d) Notwithstanding any other law or regulation, a property owner of a structure on a parcel that is within a state responsibility area shall be exempt from the payment of the fire prevention fee imposed pursuant to this section if the property owner has an income of less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level, as determined by the United States Department of Health and Human Services Poverty Guidelines. SEC. 2. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are: In order to make statutory changes necessary to provide economic relief to low-income property owners of a structure on a parcel within a state responsibility area by exempting those property owners from the payment of the fire prevention fee, at the earliest possible time, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.