FDAC F I R E D I S T R I C T S A S S O C I AT I O N O F C A L I F O R N I A
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FDAC F I R E D I S T R I C T S A S S O C I AT I O N O F C A L I F O R N I A
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2020 BOARD OF DIRECTORS President Steve Kovacs 1st Vice President Jim Comisky 2nd Vice President Frank Frievalt Immediate Past President Steve Hall Treasurer Eric Walder
FDAC STAFF Catherine Smith, Executive Director Carmen Berry, Administrative Director Dayna Dixon, Graphic Designer Angelique Grellus, Coordinator Rayneedae Garcia, Assistant PHOTOGRAPHY Pexels, Pixabay and Unsplash The purpose of this Association shall be: 1) to present a united position on fire protection issues; 2) to coordinate with other associations with similar views on fire protection, including legislation; 3) to provide advisory services and any other services deemed appropriate by the Board of Directors that may benefit member agencies; 4) to keep member agencies informed on laws relating to fire suppression, emergency medical and other related services provided by member agencies; 5) to take an active role in the legislative process affecting public agencies providing fire suppression, emergency medical and related services. Thank you to all the authors in this issue for sharing with you their time and expertise. If you have an idea for a future article, please contact Angelique Grellus at the FDAC office at agrellus@fdac.org. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of FDAC. For more information on FDAC or this magazine, please contact the FDAC office at 916.231.2137 or visit the website at www. fdac.org.
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Trusted Legal Advisors to
California Fire Districts Since 1980
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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE S U M M E R 2 0 2 0 As I sit here and write my last President’s message to our members, I reflect back on the positive changes FDAC has been involved with over my thirteen years on this Board. The support and assistance provided to fire districts has been tremendous, as well as that return of support, especially on the legislative front.
Chief Steve Kovacs, Scotts Valley Fire Protection District & Branciforte Fire Protection District
We have all seen proof over the past months that “when things get tough, the tough get going as the world has faced a global pandemic”. More recently, California experienced another round of aggressive wildfires forcing many out of their homes and businesses and destroying over three million acres of California’s beautiful landscape. The fire service has risen once again to the demands placed upon us. FDAC had to pivot and shift on our annual conference, twice. We endured to forge ahead on options to continue our educational offerings to members. Between now and the end of the year, FDAC will offer: AB 1234 Ethics and Sexual Harassment Session. Although we will miss all of our members in-person, FDAC is hopeful next year we can bring back our Annual Conference to Napa for learning, networking and sharing our experiences over the last year. The FDAC/CalChiefs Legislative Task Force concluded their work as the second year of this session ended on August 31, 2020. From all accounts, this was a session like no other. With the Capitol closed, some legislators quarantined, lobbyists working remotely with parties in both Houses not always on the same page, California went from a having a $5.6
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billion surplus at the beginning of 2020 and a rainy day fund of $21 billion to a whopping $54.3 billion deficit. With an election looming in November, there are so many factors influencing activities in the California Legislature. The Governor has until September 30, 2020 to sign or veto bills as well as just leave them unaddressed on his desk. After the Governor has concluded his work, FDAC and CalChiefs will send out a comprehensive summary of what bills made it and may impact our work moving forward. Among all of this commotion, I also announced my retirement as the fire chief of Scotts Valley Fire Protection District. I have served in California’s fire service since 1981 and it was a very difficult decision. I leave my post as the FDAC President reluctantly, but into the confident hands of incoming President, Jim Comisky from South Lake County Fire Protection District and the rest of the FDAC Board of Directors. I will miss the camaraderie of the fire service, but hope to not drift too far away and will remain available in a reduced capacity to the association in the future. Thank you for allowing me to serve on the FDAC Board of Directors and ultimately twice as your President, during my thirteenyear tenure. Be safe, stay well and keep the California Fire Service moving forward. With gratitude,
Steve M. Kovacs, Fire Chief Scotts Valley Fire Protection District FDAC Board of Directors, President
Save the Date 2 0 2 0
AB 1234 Ethics and Sexual Harassment Training Coming November of 2020
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Fire Districts Association of California L E G I S L A T I V E A R T I C L E
Russell W. Noack, Public Policy Advocates, LLC
Legislature Adjourns
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fter midnight on August 31st, the California Legislature officially adjourned the most peculiar Session in recent history. On two separate occasions, they were forced to suspend all operations inside the Capitol due to coronavirus. Faced with just over a month to process all bills, legislative leaders were forced to pare down bill loads to focus on the highest priority measures. Additionally, due to a Senate Republican member, Brian Jones, testing positive to COVID-19, most of the Senate Republican members were only able to participate and vote on floor actions online during the last week. Various technical delays and emotional outbursts set the contentious tone for the final hours of the 2019-20 Legislative Session. Legislative Update
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ll of the pieces of legislation that passed before the clock ran out now move on to Governor Newsom where he has 30 days to sign, veto, or allow a bill to become law without his signature. Corresponding with the ferocity of the many active wildfires in the state, the Legislature attempted but failed to pass two measures to add significant funding for wildfire preparedness and response activities. Both Assembly Bill 1659 (Bloom, et al.) and Assembly Bill 1873 (Committee on Budget) would have generated $500 million annually for wildfire relief projects.
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AB 1659 would have extended a fee on electric utility bills to fund the program and AB 1873 would have tapped the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. However, these two measures, which were created in the last few days of the Session, ran out of time and were not take up before the gavel came down. The multi-year effort to develop wildfire risk models to promote local fire prevention, mitigation and insurance availability experienced a mixed result. On the positive side, Assembly Bill 3164 by Laura Friedman and her companion measure, Assembly Bill 3074 passed and are on their way to the Governor. These bills create a risk model in the wildland-urban interface and will increase emphasis on defensible space, creating an ember-resistance zone, community fuel reduction and home hardening building standards. The bill will only take effect if Governor Newsom funds them in next year’s 2021-22 State Budget. On a negative side, the two measures designed to encourage mitigation activities by homeowners to allow insurance companies to utilize cost loss modeling, died on the Floors. Assembly Bill 2167 by Tom Daly and Senate Bill 292 by Susan Rubio would have established an insurance market action plan to promote insurance underwriting at affordable rates in the WUI likely will be re-introduced and pursued again next year. A third defensible space and home hardening bill, Senate Bill 1348 by Henry Stern was one of several dozen bills that were not taken up for final passage due to time constraints. Undoubtedly, it will be back next year.
Public safety power shutoffs (PSPS) continued to receive scrutiny by the Legislature. Assembly Bill 2421 by Bill Quirk has passed and is on the Governor’s desk. The bill would ease the administration process to promote installation of emergency standby generators at existing macro cell tower sites. Two bills authored by Senator Mike McGuire to go farther on electric utility regulation died at the end of the Session. Senate Bill 431 would have imposed a more extensive procedure and public communication requirement of electric utility companies regarding PSPS and Senate Bill 1321 would have expedited the process of undergrounding electrical lines to promote fire prevention and reduce PSPS. Assembly Bill 1544 by Mike Gipson was resurrected seven days before the end of Session. The bill will establish the Community Paramedicine or Triage to Alternate Destination Program. This bill authorizes a local emergency medical service agency (LEMSA) to develop and seek approval for a community paramedicine program to provide crucial services by credentialed providers to transport patients to an authorized alternate destination facility, including a sobering center or mental health facility. AB 1544 requires the state’s Emergency Medical Services Authority to adopt minimum medical protocols for community paramedicine specialties and program standards. Importantly, the bill provides that any LEMSA developing such a program must integrate it into the overall EMS plan, enter into agreements, certify compliance and staffing of alternate destination facilities, and ensure strict anti-discrimination protections are followed. The measure is awaiting action by Governor Newsom. Continues on page 8...
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An important local government planning bill was also resurrected the last week of Session and passed in the waning hours. Senate Bill 182 by Hannah-Beth Jackson would create heightened fire hazard planning responsibilities on cities and counties to make findings before taking development actions in very high fire risk areas. The bill also establishes a grant program for small jurisdictions to implement the requirements of the bill. As expected, the Governor’s Executive Order N-62-20 creating a rebuttable presumption of workers’ compensation work-relatedness for employees required to work outside the home was extended until July 1, 2024, for firefighters, peace officers and health care workers. Senate Bill 1159 by Jerry Hill included these provisions and language attaching the presumption if a workplace experienced an “outbreak” of COVID-19 defined to be 4 or more cases for small employers (less than 100 workers) or five percent (5%) or more for large employers. Two other similar workers’ compensation measures, Assembly Bill 196 (L. Gonzalez) and Assembly Bill 664 (Cooper) died. FDAC remains a strong supporter of federal legislation to provide additional funds for COVID-19 relief including provisions directing a portion of these funds to special districts. HR 7073 by John Garamendi and S. 4308 by Kyrsten Sinema and John Cornyn would require 5% of future Coronavirus Relief Fund allocations to special districts. It has been estimated that over $800 million would be available for California special districts if a Federal COVID-19 relief package passes Congress, which includes the special district language.
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Finally, there are two property tax propositions that have qualified for the November 2020 Ballot that have local government financial impacts. Proposition 15 is the “Split Roll” tax constitutional amendment to remove commercial property taxation from Prop. 13 and place it under current market value. Breaking these properties out of Prop. 13 limits will generate between $6.5 billion to $11.5 billion for local government and schools. And Proposition 19, which would allow homeowners who are over 55, disabled, or victims of a wildfire or natural disaster to take a portion of their lower tax base with them when they sell their home and buy a new one. Proposition 19 would also limit the ability for new owners who inherit property to keep their family’s lower tax base. The new funds generated would be allocated to backfill counties experiencing a net loss and a Fire Response Fund would be established to support local fire departments.
Fire Districts Association of California E D U C A T I O N C O M M I T T E E U P D A T E
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s you may already know, FDAC has made the decision to cancel the 2020 Annual Conference due to concerns surrounding COVID-19. However, we still have plenty of educational opportunities in store for our members!
Education Committee
FDAC is working to roll out a virtual AB1234 and Sexual Harassment Prevention Training. This training will initially be offered live, then will be hosted on-demand on the FDAC website. More information is still to come. FDAC also has plans to introduce a virtual Certificate of Achievement (COA) in Fire Leadership Program this year, which is getting a bit of a re-vamp from the in-person program. The COA Program offers Fire Chiefs an opportunity to learn about legal aspects, leadership, planning, trends and issues surrounding Fire Districts today. Stay tuned for more information on this virtual offering! With new virtual educational opportunities also comes new sponsorship opportunities. FDAC takes pride in its’ partners and is committed to providing valuable exposure for your company in new and exciting ways during this challenging time. Although these are still in the works, please feel free to contact FDAC staff with any questions regarding your existing or new sponsorship opportunity. Stay safe and healthy,
FDAC Education Committee
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