CFPO Legislative Report

The Executive Boards would first like to thank Legislative Chair Ronald Keefer of the Menlo Park Fire District for his outstanding service as our Legislative Director in 2008. New, freshmen Co-chairs Ken Kraus of the Los Angeles City Fire Department and Darren Drake, of the Napa City Fire Department were appointed in 2009.

2009 Legislative Session

While the 2009 legislative session was scheduled to commence Interim Recess on September 11^th, for all intents and purposes, this year’s legislative session never ended. Due to no less than seven special sessions called by the Governor, a number of unresolved issues, including water, taxation reform and education funding, required the Legislature to remain past September 11^th and through mid-December.

STATE BUDGET

When the Governor released his 2009-10 on January 10^th, it was clear that once again the State budget would be the single most important matter before the Legislature. Due to continuing structural deficits, twice this year the Legislature and Governor agreed upon major revisions to the proposed 2009-10 budget, none of which appears to have solved the on-going deficit.

The Legislative Analyst’s Office recently issued a report indicating that the State will finish the current fiscal year approximately $7 billion in deficit, with an additional $14 billion deficit projected for the 2010-11 fiscal year. Barring a strong recovery in the national and/or the State’s economy, the Analyst predicts that multi-billion dollar deficits will continue for at least three additional fiscal years.

The budget crisis also resulted in the Legislature suspending the property tax protections contained in Proposition 1A passed by the voters in 2004. As such, the Legislature is “borrowing” approximately $2 billion of local governments’ property tax revenues. Under the constitutional provisions contained in Proposition 1A, the State may not borrow property tax revenues from local governments more than twice in a 10-year period and the first borrow must be fully repaid, with interest, before the second borrow may occur.

When the Legislature suspended Proposition 1A, it also passed legislation allowing local governments to “securitize” their borrowed amounts. For agencies electing to do so, they will receive repayment of the borrowed property tax revenues, in two installments; at approximately the same time the revenues are borrowed. For those electing not to securitize, those agencies will repaid in 3-years with 2 percent interest.

The Governor will release his 2010-11 state budget on January 10^th, which will not propose any new taxes (fees perhaps) and additional deep cuts across every program in state government. Finding 2/3rds votes in each house of the Legislature to pass the budget will be a very daunting task.

EMERGENCY RESPONSE INITIATIVE

The Emergency Response Initiative (ERI) was California Fire Chiefs Association (CFCA) top 2009 legislative priority since first proposed by the Governor in his 2009-10 State Budget.

While originally only for fire-related emergencies, during 2009 the ERI was modified to apply to all catastrophic disasters and with the goal of providing sufficient funding for California’s mutual aid system. The final version of the ERI proposed a 4.8 percent fee on property insurance, both residential and commercial. While the Governor argued the fee on insurance policies was, in fact, a fee, others, including the Legislative Counsel in an oral opinion, argued it was a tax, thus requiring a 2/3rds vote in each house of the Legislature.

In early September, the final ERI language was amended into Assembly Bill 196, a Budget Committee bill pending on the Senate Floor. The fire service industry, together with the California Emergency Management Agency (CalEMA), lobbied most of the members of the Senate, only to fall two votes short of passage. All but one Democrat voted in favor, while only one Republican, Senator Abel Maldonado voted to support passage.

We have been advised that the Governor continues to strongly support the ERI and will include it in his 2010-11 State Budget.

LEGISLATION

With the assistance of the CFCA lobbyist, Ralph Heim the Fire Prevention Officers maintained and open communication channel with regards to bills impacting fire and life safety issues.

The following bills are a few that were of interest to the CFPOs’:

AB 27 (Jeffries) Arson: aggravated: punishment

Status: Chaptered by Secretary of State – Chapter 71, Statues of 2009

Existing law defines the crime of aggravated arson, and makes a person guilty of that crime if the fire causes property damage and other losses in excess of $5,650,000. Existing law specifies costs to be included in calculating property damage for purposes of theses provisions and states legislative intent to review the property damage for purposes of these provisions and a states legislative intent to review the property damage threshold in light of inflation within 5 years. Existing law repeals the provision relating to property damage on January 1, 2010. This bill would increase the amount of damage required for a person to be guilty of aggravated arson from $5,650,000 to $6,500,000 and extend the repeal date for the provisions relating to property damage to January 1, 2014.

AB 388 (Miller) Firefighting uniforms.

Status: Chaptered by Secretary of State – Chapter 100. Statutes of 2009

Existing law provides that any person, other than an officer or member of a fire department, who willfully wears, exhibits, or uses the authorized uniform of an officer or member of a fire department or a deputy state fire marshal, with the intent to fraudulently impersonation an officer or member of a fire department or the Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM), or fraudulently inducing the belief that he or she is an officer or member of a fire department or the OSFM, is guilty of a misdemeanor. This bill would require, subject to exceptions that vendors of firefighting uniforms verify that a person purchasing a uniform identifying a firefighting agency or department is an employee or authorized member of the agency or department identified on the uniform, as specified, the bill would provide that violation of these provision would be a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not more than $1000.

AB 625 (LIEU) Novelty lighters.

Status: Vetoed by the Governor

Existing law requires the OSFM to specify standards for the design of cigarette lighters. Existing law prohibits a person from selling, offering for sale, or distributing a cigarette lighter that does not comply with those standards. A violation of these provisions is an infraction. This bill would, in addition, prohibit a person, including a manufacturer, distributor, importer, or retailer, from selling, offering for sale, distributing, or offering for promotion an operable novelty lighter. The bill would define a novelty lighter as a mechanical or electrical device, operating on any type of fuel, that is typically used for lighting cigarettes, cigars, or pipes and that (1) is designed to appear to be a toy, (2) has entertaining audio or visual effects, or (3) resembles in physical form or function articles commonly recognized as appealing to, or intended for use by persons under the age of 12 years of age. The bill would exempt from these provisions a device that is (1) manufactured before January 1, 1980, (2) incapable of being fueled or lacking a means of combustion, (3) used primarily to ignite fuel for fireplaces or grills, or (4) printed or decorated with logos, labels, decals, artwork, or heat shrinkable sleeves. A violation of this prohibition would be an infraction. By creating a new crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

AB 762 (Lowenthal, Bonnie) Residential facilities: bedridden persons.

Status: Chaptered by the Secretary of State, #471, Statutes of 2009

Under existing law, bedridden persons may be admitted to, and remain in, a community care facility, residential care facility for persons with chronic life-threatening illness, or a residential care facility for the elderly if the facility secures and maintains an appropriate fire clearance. This bill would, for the purpose of fire clearance of these facilities, include within the definition of “nonambulatory person” a resident who is unable to independently transfer to and from bed but who does not need assistance turning and repositioning in bed.

SB 23 (Padilla) Manufactured housing: emergency preparedness plans.

Status: Chaptered by Secretary of State, #551, Statutes of 2009

Existing law, the Mobilehome Parks Act, requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to enact and enforce rules and regulations to protect public health and safety in mobilehome parks. The act authorizes park management to adopt and emergency preparedness plan that includes specified procedures and plans. Under the act, a knowing violation of the act is punishable as a misdemeanor offense. This bill would amend both the Mobilehome Park Act and the Special Occupancy and Parks Act to require and owner or operator of an existing park or a special occupancy park to adopt an emergency preparedness plan on or before September 10, 2010. The bill would require an owner or operator of a park to post notice of the plan, as specified, and to provide information relating to accessing individual emergency preparedness information relating to accessing individual emergency preparedness information. The bill would require an enforcement agency to determine park compliance with these provisions if certain conditions have been met. The bill would provide that a violation of this section constitutes and unreasonable risk to life, health, or safety and would require correction by park management within 60 days of notice of violation.