(SACRAMENTO) – Despite strong objections from Senator Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale), the Senate Budget Committee approved Governor Jerry Brown’s plan to spend $6.4 million collecting the State Responsibility Area (SRA) fire tax today. Passed in 2011, the tax, which was passed in 2011, imposes a charge of up to $150 on each habitable structure in SRAs in order to finance the fire prevention efforts of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

“Why are we approving millions of dollars and 57 new paid positions for a program that will be challenged and likely overturned in court?” LaMalfa asked. “The majority party has found so many loopholes to pass this illegal tax that I cannot imagine it will be upheld under any judicial scrutiny.”

LaMalfa, one of the most active opponents of the rural fire tax, warned committee members against collecting the tax prior to a formal determination regarding several legal questions about its passage. The tax was passed by a simple majority of the Legislature, in defiance of Proposition 26, the 2010 ballot initiative that requires a two-thirds vote for any increase in fees or taxes. The Governor has since raised eyebrows by using the unelected Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to further increase the tax after the Legislature refused to do so.

“Even setting aside the myriad legal issues, the actual implementation of this bill will be a disaster,” said LaMalfa. “This is levying a second or third set of taxes on rural Californians who already pay for local fire protection, for services they will never receive.”

LaMalfa has been joined by other lawmakers in co-authoring Assembly Bill 1506 to repeal the fire tax.

Senator Doug LaMalfa is a lifelong farmer representing the fourth Senate District including Shasta, Tehama, Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Siskiyou, Sutter, Del Norte, Placer, Trinity, Yuba and Nevada counties.