News & Columns > Michael P. Neufeld > Governor Renews Call for Fire Fee

Governor Renews Call for Fire Fee

Designed to Fund New Emergency Response Equipment

By Michael P. Neufeld
Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Los Angeles, CA – Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger wants Californians living and doing business in the state to pay a surcharge on their insurance to help fund new fire engines, bigger response crews and satellite tracking technology.

The governor, who was briefed Tuesday on the status of the Marek Fire in Los Angeles County, and fire fighting efforts around California, had proposed such a fee earlier this year but it went up in a blaze when fiscal conservatives in Sacramento called the fee a tax.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (Photo by Michael P. Neufeld.)

"The important thing now is the Emergency Service Response Initiative we did this year," the governor told a press conference, "where we wanted to raise the fees for the homeowners."

The governor's original proposal for new emergency response equipment called for an increase in insurance premiums an average of $10 a year for millions of homes and businesses around the state.

Schwarzenegger proposed using the money, about $140 million, to pay for new fire engines, bigger response crews and satellite tracking technology. Democrats in Sacramento proposed doubling the fee to raise about $280 million annually.

Schwarzenegger, speaking from the Marek Fire incident command center, placed the blame on California lawmakers for failing to approve his proposal.

"And there were some people that got stuck in their ideology," Schwarzenegger emphasized. "And they were debating, is this a fee increase or is this a tax increase? And I think that this is the perfect example here that this is a bogus argument and debate. Because it doesn't matter what you call it. What we need is the extra $140 million so we can buy the extra engines, the 131 engines and the 10 extra helicopters and all the things we need."

During the press conference, Schwarzenegger was peppered with questions about how the state will manage to pay for the latest series of wildfires in the state considering California's fiscal state of affairs.

Schwarzenegger told reporters covering the event he wasn't going to spend "one single minute" determining where the state would find the resources. However, he did stress the fact he recently boosted the state's reserves to $1.5 billion by exercising his line-item veto authority in September.

The governor's vetoes, which Schwarzenegger indicated would be used to help fund firefighting efforts, decreased homeowners' and renters' credits for the elderly and disabled and slashed monies for welfare families.

Schwarzenegger stated: "I also want to mention that, even though we have had budget problems in our state and we have an economic slowdown but we'll spare not one single dollar when it comes to fighting fires. We're going to use all the money, even if we have to take it from somewhere else. We always will make public safety and protecting the people's lives and protecting the people's properties our number one priority."

The governor reported that statewide 26,800 acres have burned so far, 64 structures have been destroyed, 3,100 personnel statewide are working fires, including the National Guardsmen and people from the US Forest Service. He also reported there are 321 engines and 22 helicopters that were in action at the time of his press conference.

"I just want to let everyone know, this is the beginning. And I think that we will be ready." Schwarzenegger noted, "We will have the manpower ready, we will have the coordination ready, we will have the vehicles ready, the helicopters, the fixed-wing aircraft and we will have the money ready to go and pay for those kinds of services."