(1) Existing law, California Building Standards Law, requires the State Fire Marshall to develop, and the California Building Standards Commission to review, building standards to implement the state’s fire and life safety policy.
Existing law requires the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to designate specified areas as very high fire hazard severity zones. Existing law requires the State Fire Marshall, in consultation with the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Director of Housing and Community Development, to recommend building standards for very high fire hazard severity zones to protect structures and vegetation from fires spreading from adjacent structures or vegetation. Existing law requires persons who own, lease, control, operate, or maintain dwellings or occupied structures
in these designated areas to comply with specified requirements, including complying with all applicable state and local building standards. Existing law makes a violation of these provisions a crime.
This bill would require, no later than July 1, 2020, the State Fire Marshall to develop, and the California Building Standards Commission to review, building standards for buildings in very high fire hazard severity zones. The bill would require, beginning on July 1, 2020, all newly constructed buildings and all transferred buildings in very high fire hazard severity zones to comply with the building standards. By requiring new building standards for buildings in very high fire hazard severity zones, this bill would expand the definition of a crime and impose a state-mandated local program.
This bill would establish the State Fire Preparedness Council, consisting of specified members,
and would prescribe the responsibilities of the state council with regard to improving the scale and effectiveness of the state’s fire preparedness. The bill would require the state council to, among other things, create regional community fire preparedness councils, composed of members representing the local community in areas of the state designated as very high fire hazard severity zones, as described, to work collaboratively with the state council to implement fire prevention measures in the regional community, as specified.
(2) Existing law authorizes local agencies, upon making specified findings, to provide low-interest loans to owners of buildings within their jurisdiction for the purpose of making seismic safety upgrades to eligible buildings, as defined, in order to meet current earthquake safety codes. Existing law authorizes these local entities to issue bonds in order to finance these loans which are secured by a lien on the
subject property.
This bill would establish the Fire Hardened Homes Revolving Loan Fund in the State Treasury, as specified. The bill would transfer $1,000,000,000 from the General Fund to the new fund for the purposes of the bill. Moneys in the fund would be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to an unspecified state agency to distribute to local agencies for the purpose of funding no- or low-interest loans made by those agencies to owners of eligible buildings to pay for eligible costs of fire hardening. The bill would provide that financing under this program, along with other liens on the subject property, could not exceed 80% of the appraised value of the property. The bill would define terms for its purposes.
(3) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs
mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.