Local Lawmakers Fight Fire Fees

A bill introduced by two Inland Empire lawmakers to eliminate a state fire services fee that critics have labeled an illegal tax cleared its first legislative hurdle today.

AB 1506, backed by Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries, R-Lake Elsinore, and Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Beaumont, was approved by the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources.

"Today, the Assembly took the first step toward ending the illegal fire tax,'' Cook said. "It's outrageous that mountain residents ... and (those) in other rural communities are paying twice for the same service. The fire tax is not about safety, it's about extorting rural Californians for more money. I'm going to continue fighting until the fire tax has been repealed.''

AB 1506 would abrogate a state "fire prevention fee'' enacted last year as part of Gov. Jerry Brown's deficit control plan.

Under the program, rural property owners who reside in so-called "state responsibility areas,'' or SRAs, serviced primarily by Cal Fire are required to pay up to $150 annually for fire protection.

For details on how it will impact residents of the rural residents surrounding Temecula, .

The fee applies to about 850,000 residents of outlying areas encompassing more than 31 million acres in all but two counties -- San Francisco and Sutter.

The governor and other proponents argued last year that a new fee was necessary to bolster the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection budget in the face of higher costs and spending cuts, and to ensure rural residents picked up their fair share of the expense of the state servicing out-of-the-way places.

But Cook, Jeffries and other critics of the fee describe it as a tax that required a two-thirds approval of the Legislature to implement in the first place. They also say residents of SRAs are already paying for fire protection in their current tax bills and in special levies that apply to local fire districts.

According to a legislative analysis, if AB 1506 passes, it could result in a $50 million gap in the Cal Fire budget.

"Such cuts would obviously reduce the department's fire prevention activities,'' state analyst Mario DeBernardo wrote. "These cuts would also place a larger burden on some local firefighting agencies, the cost of which could pass down to property owners by way of increased local assessments.''

Supporters of AB 1506 include the California Association of Realtors, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers' Association, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors and the California Fire Chiefs' Association.

There are no opponents to Cook's and Jeffries' bill on record. If the bill is signed into law, the fire prevention fee would end on Jan. 1, 2013.