Gov. Jerry Brown wants to expand how the state can spend new fire fee proceeds, while Republican legislators want to kill the charge entirely.
In a series of proposals, GOP lawmakers and the Democratic governor are jockeying over ways to change the controversial $150 annual fee on 825,000 properties mostly located in rural areas.
State leaders approved the "fire prevention fee" in 2011 as a way to raise money for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and Brown said at the time that residential growth on the forest edges had led to higher state fire costs.
But Republicans and fee payers are angry about the charge, saying that it was a way for Democrats to pass a backdoor tax on GOP-leaning districts with only a majority vote. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association filed a suit last year and the Office of Legislative Counsel believes the Brown administration is violating state law by spending fees on wildfire investigation.
Brown posted a bill proposal online last week that would allow the state to spend fire fees beyond where fee payers live. His bill would "additionally include fire projects in areas that immediately threaten state responsibility areas."
The proposal has one catch: Legislative Counsel identified it as a tax requiring two-thirds support of the Legislature. That may matter less now that Democrats have supermajority control of both houses, though even some Democrats who represent large rural areas have taken issue with the fire fee. Two-thirds approval of a new fire fee proposal would eliminate the legal concerns raised by Legislative Counsel late last week.
Sen. Ted Gaines, R-Rocklin, has proposed three bills. His first, Senate Bill 17, would eliminate the fee entirely. A second bill, SB 125, would exempt property owners who already pay local fire agencies for protection. A third bill, SB 147, would exempt property owners with household income below 200 percent of the federal poverty level.
© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.
• Read more articles by Kevin Yamamura
What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com
Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)
Here are some rules of the road:
• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "Report Abuse" link to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand.
• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
• Don't flag other users' comments just because you don't agree with their point of view. Please only flag comments that violate these guidelines.
You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "Report Abuse" link to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them.
Order Reprint
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "Report Abuse" link below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.