Second Round of Bills Mailed to Rural Homeowners SACRAMENTO, CA - July 23, 2013 - The Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) announced today their continued opposition to the state imposed State Responsibility Area (SRA) fees as the second round of bills are slated to hit rural homeowners' mailboxes. The SRA fees, also known as fire prevention fees, are imposed by the state, and aim to backfill a void created in the CAL FIRE budget in 2011. "RCRC remains opposed to this fee. It is bad public policy, and unfair to rural homeowners," said Kevin Cann, RCRC Board Chair and Mariposa County Supervisor. "We will continue our efforts to repeal this fee, and relieve rural homeowners of this duplicative tax." The SRA fee is the result of budget bill AB 29X, approved by Governor Brown in 2011. This legislation was passed into law with little opportunity for public input, and was vehemently opposed by counties, fire districts, and associations representing firefighters. The first round of bills were mailed to rural homeowners in 2012, following a costly, and inefficient implementation period, where the state spent an estimated $15 million in up-front costs to launch the program. RCRC has ongoing concerns with several aspects of the fee. First, according to CAL FIRE's own data, their most expensive activities are for fire suppression in highly urbanized areas, not rural areas. Second, most landowners in the SRA have already agreed to a fire protection and prevention tax at the local level, making the SRA fee duplicative. Finally, SRA fees weaken the state's mutual aid system, and by taking a greater role, place the state in a position of long-term liability over local firefighting and prevention efforts, leaving them vulnerable to legitimate litigation claims. Bills for the 2012-13 fiscal year will begin hitting rural homeowners' mailboxes this week, mailed in alphabetical order by county. A detailed schedule is available on the BOE website at: http://www.boe.ca.gov/sptaxprog/fire_prev_fee.htm.