Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative Democrats are pursuing a firefighting fee on rural homeowners significantly higher than the $90 charge passed last week by California's fire board.

The new proposal would impose a minimum of $175 on the first building and $25 on each additional structure. It would also assess a land fee starting at $1 per acre for the first 100 acres.

Homeowners who live in fire districts, which includes 94 percent of the roughly 730,000 rural structures being charged, qualify for a $25 discount.

Brown's Department of Finance expects the state to begin sending bills to homeowners in spring 2012. The Democratic governor said in July that California residents have moved to wildland areas in increasing numbers, and he considers it fair to have rural residents bear a greater share of firefighting costs.

Democrats consider the proposal a "cleanup" measure of a budget bill intended to raise $50 million in the first year and $200 million annually thereafter. When Brown signed the original plan, Assembly Bill X1 29, he signaled it was flawed because it didn't allow the state to use fee dollars to fight wildfires.

That bill capped the charge at $150 and authorized the state Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to decide what to charge. The board last week approved a $90 fee with significant exemptions. That proposal would have raised a fraction of the $50 million that lawmakers had counted on.

Under Brown's latest proposal, the board would scrap last week's plan. Despite the higher fee, the Department of Finance believes it would still raise the $50 million in the first year. The new fee is contained in Assembly Bill X1 24 and Senate Bill X1 7, which require a majority vote.

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association has vowed to fight the measure in court, saying it violates Proposition 26, a 2010 initiative that further restricted what fees the Legislature could approve on a majority vote. The group says the fire charge is a tax that required a two-thirds support.

Sen. Ted Gaines, R-Roseville, filed a referendum to repeal the original $150 proposal, and he said he will do the same against the new one should it pass. He is gathering signatures but doesn't have the money normally required to collect enough to qualify.

"It's very, very frustrating because you're putting a bigger burden on rural residents across the state of California during a very tough economic climate," said Gaines, who represents sparsely populated counties from Modoc to Mono.

Democrats said the fire fee was necessary because Republicans, including Gaines, opposed higher sales and income taxes that otherwise could have paid for state firefighting.

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Call Kevin Yamamura, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5548.

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