Office of Emergency Services: property insurance surcharge.

Existing law required, by September 1, 2011, the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to adopt emergency regulations to establish a fire prevention fee of not more than $150 for the necessary fire prevention activities of the state that benefit the owners of structures within a state responsibility area. This bill would repeal the fire prevention fee. The bill would instead create the Disaster Response Fund in the State Treasury. The bill would require all insureds in the state to pay a special purpose surcharge on each commercial and residential fire and multiperil insurance policy issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2016, as specified. Moneys from this surcharge would be deposited in the fund and be appropriated by the Legislature for the purposes of funding emergency activities of the Office of Emergency Services, the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and the Military Department, and local public entities for disaster preparedness and response. The bill would also require every admitted insurance company in the state to collect the surcharge and separately identify the surcharge on each affected insurance policy. The bill would provide that the failure of an insured to pay the surcharge would result in the cancellation of his or her policy. Because the payment of the special purpose surcharge, under the bill, would result in a taxpayer paying a higher tax within the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIIIA of the California Constitution, the bill would require for passage the approval of 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature.