Bill Text: CA SB571 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Fire safety: ingress and egress route recommendations: report.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Vetoed) 2024-09-22 - In Senate. Consideration of Governor's veto pending. [SB571 Detail]
Download: California-2023-SB571-Amended.html
|
Amended
IN
Senate
January 03, 2024 |
|
Amended
IN
Senate
March 21, 2023 |
| Introduced by Senator Allen |
February 15, 2023 |
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, requires the legislative body of a city or county to adopt a comprehensive general plan that includes various elements, including among others, a land use element and a safety element. Existing law requires the safety element to be revised at a specified time period, or as necessary to address the risk of fire for land classified as state responsibility areas and land classified as very high fire hazard severity zones. Existing law requires the safety element to include, among other things, a set of goals, policies, and objectives for the protection of the community from the unreasonable risk of wildfire and a set of feasible implementation measures designed to carry out those goals, policies, and objectives.
This bill would require a proponent of a new development that would require the evacuation of
40 or more vehicles at any given time that is located within a state responsibility area or local responsibility area and within a high or very high fire hazard severity zone to include an evacuation plan with its application submitted to the local government for the development. The bill would subject the evacuation plan to the independent approval of the local government, as defined, the respective law enforcement and fire agencies that have jurisdictional response authority over the relevant area, and the California Highway Patrol if the proposed evacuation routing utilizes state or federal highways. The bill would require the evacuation plan to consist of specified information, including a wildfire behavior study, a traffic engineering study, and the best available routes for evacuation egress by populations within the development when threatened by wildfire. By imposing new duties on local governments in reviewing and approving developments in high and very high fire hazard severity zones, the bill
would impose a state-mandated local program.
This bill would require all data elements of the evacuation plan to be preserved and maintained by the respective city or county and consolidated in a countywide evacuation database for local fire, law, and emergency service agencies to execute efficient evacuations and mass notifications, as specified. The bill would require the applicable county to, among other things, review and update evacuation plan information in its system on an annual basis and as new information becomes available. By imposing new duties on counties in maintaining and updating evacuation plans, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
This bill would authorize any person to maintain an action for declaratory and equitable relief to restrain any violation of these provisions.
The bill would include findings that changes proposed by
this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities.
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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program:Bill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 4290 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read:4290.
(a) The board shall adopt regulations implementing minimum fire safety standards related to defensible space that are applicable to state responsibility area lands under the authority of the department, and to lands classified and designated as very high fire hazard severity zones, as defined in subdivision (i) of Section 51177 of the Government Code. These regulations apply to the perimeters and access to all residential, commercial, and industrial building construction within state responsibility areas approved after January 1, 1991, and within lands classified and designated as very high fire hazard severity zones, as defined in subdivision (i) of Section 51177 of the Government Code after July 1, 2021. The board(c)
(d)
