One fire fee repeal bill killed while another would replace it
- By Damon Arthur | Redding Record-Searchlight
- Posted April 9, 2013 at 10 p.m.
A bill to repeal a controversial $150 state fire fee died in the state Legislature on Tuesday, the same day a new bill was introduced to replace it with a fee on property insurance that would raise $480 million a year.
SB17 died when it garnered only three of seven yes votes to send it out of the state Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water.
"I am extremely disappointed that the committee failed to pass this bill. It was an opportunity to make things right with the 825,000 Californians stuck paying the illegal tax," Sen. Ted Gaines said in a statement.
Gaines said he still supports a lawsuit filed last month by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, which claims the fee is violates the state constitution because it is an illegal tax.
A spokeswoman for Gaines, R-Roseville, said he had no position on the bill by Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro that would replace the fire fee with surcharge on all property insurance in California.
AB468 would place a 4.8 percent surcharge on property insurance, with the money raised going into a fund used by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, California Emergency Management Agency and the California Military Department.
The average surcharge would be $48 per policy and would raise about $480 million annually and be used for disaster management, preparedness and an assistance fund, Chesbro said.
Joyce Wilhelmson of Redding, who has been sent three state fire fee billings including one for her husband who has been dead eight years — said she was against any more fees or surcharges.
"I don't like being taxed on something they should have brought to the public" to vote on, Wilhelmson said. "In California, we're taxed to death."
The state fire fee raises about $85 million annually by charging rural residents who live in designated state responsibility areas. The fee is $150 a year, or $115 a year if the property is within a fire protection district.
In Shasta County, 22,355 bills were sent out last year. Officials said they estimate county residents will pay from $2.5 million to $3.3 million
Chesbro's bill would raise an estimated $480 million through a surcharge on all property insurance policies in the state, not just on rural residents. But the money would go to several state agencies, not just Cal Fire.
Chesbro said the money from an insurance surcharge was necessary because of the loss in federal funds for disaster aid due to recent budget cuts, also known as sequestration.
"The loss of these federal funds makes this legislation more urgent," Chesbro said. "California needs to be more proactive in planning and funding responses to natural disasters such as earthquakes, fires, tsunamis and floods," Chesbro said.
But George Runner, who represents the north state on the state Board of Equalization, said he didn't think the solution to the fire fee was to raise more money through another illegal tax.
"First of all, you don't solve an $85 million tax problem by charging a half a billion dollars," Runner said.
He said he opposed any new taxes, especially since the increase in the state sales tax was supposed to solve the state's revenue problems.
How to get help with a fire fee bill
The phone number for George Runner, who represents the north state on the state Board of Equalization, is 916-445-2181.
Go to firepreventionfee.org to fill out a petition for redetermination. For more information on billing questions, call the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Fire Prevention Fee Service Center at 1-888-310-6447.
Source: http://www.redding.com/news/2013/apr/09/one-fire-fee-repeal-bill-killed-while-another-it/--
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