6th District Report
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| Bob Wolf |
New Director
It is our great honor, as the leadership of CDF Firefighters Local 2881, along with the the California Professional Firefighters to join all of our brothers and sisters within CAL FIRE to congratulate Ken Pimlott on his official appointment as Director of CAL FIRE.
These are not easy times in which to take a leadership position. The challenges go far beyond the economic problems confronting California and go to the core of how fire departments will continue to operate in the 21st Century. It is gratifying for those of us who have known Ken Pimlott throughout his career to see that Governor Brown has recognized him for both his extraordinary capabilities and his great honesty.
While the union has no plans to walk in lock-step with the department, we are confident that controversies can be handled with respect. At the end of the day, we share a philosophy with Director Pimlott that honorable people can not only work together in a positive fashion, but can also disagree honorably.
SRA Fees
Evidently, the two things you cannot get rid of are a Palm Springs condo and SRA fees.
The state of California has spent a decade trying to squeeze profits from either the buildings or the acreage in the State Responsibility Area. There have been several iterations of fee schedules promulgated and none of them have worked.
The newest version of the SRA fees is put in place to handle a $50 million backfill to the CAL FIRE budget and have future revenues of $150 million for the General Fund.
It is a long way to Tipperary.
There are many more questions than there is substantive public policy as it relates to SRA. There are enormous costs in deciding how many habitable structures there are in the SRA. It is even a challenge to figure out the definition of habitable. Putting this paradigm together, the Board of Equalization and every level of government are going to want to shave administrative costs off that top.
There is also a conflict on how the money will be spent. In order to get around the fee versus taxes question, the legislation mentions that it will be used only for prevention. However, information from the Administration is that it will be used for suppression and other purposes, which raises the specter of a tax question being raised.
There is also an appeals process in place for those individuals who feel that they are being charged this fee unfairly. Those of us who have worked in government for a long time recognize that the appeals process could likely be more expensive than the fee that is being collected. And, there is no doubt that there will be litigation and legislation to purposefully adjust to the considerable weaknesses in the proposal.
While all of us support the idea that individuals who live in the SRA and pay absolutely no fees or taxes for emergency services need to pay their own freight, a blanket SRA fee has proven expensive to enforce and an empty bucket when it comes time to collect.
Sacramento Political Environment
There is a peaceful revolution taking place in California politics. The voters supported redistricting and, as a consequence, for the first time the congressional and state senate and assembly districts seats are no longer in the hands of the politicians, but rather under the aegis of a private commission. If the commission's recommendations do not work, then it goes to the Supreme Court for them to make the final adjustments.
We will be seeing highly competitive races for these offices during the next election. One pundit said that it wasn't like having one Ali-Frazier fight, but rather a dozen set up in one arena so that we could watch the chaos unfold.
The hope of the voters is that it will make policymakers more responsive to their home districts. That is a lot to hope for.
Fire Season
We have already experienced more fires this year than last. I do not care what the weather is like in the months leading up to fire season, the state is always at risk to burn. I know how dedicated each and every one of you are, and I know the incredible sacrifices your families make when you are gone for days and weeks at a time. We look forward to continuing our work alongside the men and women throughout CPF as we battle what will be another undoubtedly active fire season.
Please be safe. We want every one of you to go home to your families when the fires end.
It is an honor to work with you.