Land use: fees.

(1) Existing law requires fees charged by a local agency for specified purposes to not exceed the estimated reasonable cost of providing the service for which the fee is charged, unless a question regarding the amount of the fee charged in excess of this cost is submitted to, and approved by, 23 of the electors. The Planning and Zoning law requires a city or county to administratively approve applications to install solar energy systems, as defined, through the issuance of a building permit or similar nondiscretionary permit. This bill would prohibit a city, county, or city and county from basing the calculation of the fee charged for a solar energy system on the valuation of the solar energy system, or any other factor not directly associated with the cost to issue the permit, or from basing the calculation of the fee on the valuation of the property or the improvement, materials, or labor costs associated with the improvement. The bill would also require the city, county, or city and county to separately identify each fee assessed on the applicant for the installation of a solar energy system on the invoice provided to the applicant. (2) The bill would also express a legislative finding and declaration that oversight of permit fees for renewable energy systems is an issue of statewide concern and not a municipal affair and that, therefore, all cities, including charter cities, would be subject to the provisions of the bill.