California Senate Bill SB263 Introduced / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: SB 263INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Senator Gaines FEBRUARY 18, 2015 An act to amend Section 4210 of the Public Resources Code, relating to fire prevention. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 263, as introduced, Gaines. Fire prevention: state responsibility areas. Existing law makes certain findings and declarations regarding fire protection of the public trust resources on lands in state responsibility areas, including that the costs of fire prevention activities aimed at reducing the effects of structures in state responsibility areas should be borne by the owners of the structures. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to this law. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 4210 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read: 4210. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) Fire protection of the public trust resources on lands in the state responsibility areas remains a vital interest to California. Lands that are covered in whole or in part by a diverse plant community prevent excessive erosion, retard runoff, reduce sedimentation, and accelerate water percolation to assist in the maintenance of critical sources of water for environmental, irrigation, domestic, or industrial uses. (b) The presence of structures within state responsibility areas can pose an increased risk of fire ignition and an increased potential for fire damage within the state's wildlands and watersheds. The presence of structures within state responsibility areas can also impair  wild land   wildland  firefighting techniques and could result in greater damage to state lands caused by wildfires. (c) The costs of fire prevention activities aimed at reducing the effects of structures in state responsibility areas should be borne by the owners of  these   the  structures. (d) Individual owners of structures within state responsibility areas receive a disproportionately larger benefit from fire prevention activities than that realized by the state's citizens generally. (e) It is the intent of the Legislature that the economic burden of fire prevention activities that are associated with structures in state responsibility areas shall be equitably distributed among the citizens of the state who generally benefit from those activities and those owners of structures in the state responsibility areas who receive a specific benefit other than that general benefit. (f) It is necessary to impose a fire prevention fee to pay for fire prevention activities in the state responsibility areas that specifically benefit owners of structures in the state responsibility areas.