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Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger State Capitol Sacramento, CA 95814 Dear Governor Schwarzenegger: I respectfully request your VETO of AB 2447 (Jones), which severely limits development in many parts of the state, greatly increases opportunities for litigation and causes further job losses. AB 2447 mandates that a county deny, with limited exception, any development project requiring a tentative tract or parcel map if the proposed project is located within a State Responsibility Area (SRA) or a high fire severity zone. It completely ignores current building standards that require new structures to use flame retardant, fire-resistant materials and provide state mandated defensible space around the structures. Indeed, recent wildfires have burned in older residential developments and burned around newer developments constructed under current much stricter building standards. AB 2447 requires county government to demonstrate that sufficient structural fire protection and suppression services will be available. However, the bill doesn’t define what the term means leaving both the county and the developer exposed to lawsuits if they go forward with the proposed project. Additionally, the exception to the mandated two access roads into and out of a subdivision also exposes the county to more litigation over the undefined term “feasible” thus making more probable that the agency will not approve the proposed development. A rash of court cases over the meaning of “feasible/infeasible” make clear that the door is open to citizen suits to obtain judicial review. The slowdown in the construction industry due to the downturn in the economy has already caused the loss of thousands of good paying jobs. This bill furthers that decline in job loss without improving wildfire safety at all.

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