Fire prevention fee: state responsibility areas.

Existing law requires the state to have the primary responsibility for preventing and suppressing fires in areas that the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection has determined are state responsibility areas. Existing law required the board, 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. The board is required to adjust the fee annually using prescribed methods. This bill would require the board, no later than July 1, 2013, to amend those emergency regulations required to be adopted by the board pursuant to those provisions to provide for a credit against the amount of the fee imposed on each structure on a parcel that is within a state responsibility area based upon specified factors, as prescribed, not to exceed a maximum of $150. The bill would require the board to adjust the fee taking into account specified factors to ensure that the fee accurately reflects the fire prevention benefits provided. The bill would require the board to, not later than January 1, 2013, and annually thereafter, report to the Legislature on the costs of responding to all fire disasters in state responsibility areas for that year, including specified information. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.