Fire prevention fees: state responsibility areas.

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, defined as a building used or intended to be used for human habitation, on a parcel that is within a state responsibility area. This bill would delete the definition of "structure" for purposes of the fire prevention fee and instead use "habitable structure," which the bill would define to mean a building that contains one or more dwelling units that can be occupied for residential use, as provided. The bill would also include the definition of "person" and "owner of a structure," as provided. The bill would require the fee to be levied upon the owner of a habitable structure identified by the department as located within the state responsibility area if that person owns the habitable structure on July 1 of the year for which the fee is due. The bill would authorize the board to exempt from the fire prevention fee any habitable structure that is subsequently deemed uninhabitable as a result of a natural disaster during the year the fee is due if certain conditions are met. Existing law requires the board to adjust the fire prevention fee annually using prescribed methods. This bill would instead authorize the board to adjust the fee using those methods. Existing law establishes the State Responsibility Area Fire Prevention Fund and requires the board to report to the Legislature every January 1 on the status and uses of the fund. This bill would instead require the board to report to the Legislature every January 31. Existing law authorizes a person from whom the fire prevention fee is determined to be due to petition for a redetermination of whether the fee applies to that person within 30 days after service upon the person of a notice of determination. Existing law requires the petition for redetermination to be in writing and be sent to the department, the board, and the State Board of Equalization. This bill would, if a petition for redetermination is filed after the expiration of the 30-day time period, authorize the petition to be treated as an administrative protest or claim for refund if the department determines that the facts presented indicate that the fire prevention fee originally determined may have been excessive or the amount or the application of the fee may have been the result of an error by the department, its agent, or the State Board of Equalization. This bill would delete the requirements that the petition for redetermination be sent to the board and the State Board of Equalization. Existing law requires a penalty of 20% of the fee determined to be due to be added to the amount due and payable for each 30-day period in which the fee remains unpaid. This bill would prohibit the above penalty from being imposed or added after January 1, 2015, to any fee that remains unpaid or any fee that is not paid when due and payable. The bill would instead add a penalty of 10% to the amount due in accordance with existing law relating to late fee payments.