Push To Repeal Rural Firefighting Fee Fails
SACRAMENTO (AP) -- An effort to repeal California's annual fire-protection fee on rural property owners has fallen short of the signatures it needs to go before voters next year, the effort's organizer said Wednesday.
State Sen. Ted Gaines, R-Roseville had been leading an effort to overturn the maximum $150 annual fee.
The deadline for collecting the 505,000 signatures needed to force a ballot referendum is Thursday. But Gaines told The Associated Press on Wednesday that organizers won't have nearly enough to qualify.
"Unfortunately, we're not gathering enough to put a referendum on the ballot, but we have clearly influenced the debate," Gaines said in a telephone interview.
He cited the decision by the state Board of Forestry and Fire Protection in August to charge homeowners $90 next year instead of the full $150. Moreover, a bill proposed last month by Gov. Jerry Brown to raise the fee failed in a Senate committee amid bipartisan opposition.
Brown, a Democrat, was trying to fix what he says are flaws in the bill he signed in July as part of the budget package.
The governor proposed to increase the fee from a maximum of $150 to a minimum of $175, plus another $25 for each additional structure on the property. He also wanted to change the law to ensure the revenue can be used by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The AP reported in August that unless it is changed, the law could end up draining $50 million from the state's firefighting budget this year, and as much as $200 million in future years.
The fee would apply to about 850,000 properties statewide. About 94 percent are also within a fire protection district, so Brown proposed to reduce their annual fee by $25 to help offset what they already pay for fire protection.
Janet Upton, spokeswoman for the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said the agency is talking with the administration on how to proceed since the bill failed.
An effort by Republicans to repeal the law also died in the closing days of the legislative session, but Gaines said he may try again next year.
"People are questioning and challenging why the governor and Legislature are trying to balance the budget on the backs on rural taxpayers. That still makes absolutely no sense to me," Gaines said. "It's just an attempt to extract more money from their pocketbook to balance the budget."
The state should be able to find enough money in its budget to pay for fire protection without charging rural homeowners an additional fee, he said.
The referendum drive gathered "thousands" of signatures from rural residents, but foundered because backers lacked the money to mount a professional signature-gathering drive, Gaines said. Neither he nor his staff could immediately say how many signatures were collected.
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association legislative affairs director Tim Bittle said his organization believes the law is vulnerable to a legal challenge because the fee lacked the needed approval from two-thirds of the Legislature. However, he said the fee likely has to be paid by homeowners before a lawsuit can be filed.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
