(a) A city, county, and city and county shall collect a fee from each applicant for a building permit. Each fee shall be equal to a specific amount of the proposed building construction for which the building permit is issued as determined by the local building officials. The fee amount shall be assessed in the following way:

(1) Group R occupancies, as defined in the California Building Code (Part 2 of Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations), one to three stories in height, except hotels and motels, shall be assessed at the rate of thirteen dollars ($13) per one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000), with appropriate fractions thereof.

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(2) All other buildings shall be assessed at the rate of twenty-eight dollars ($28) per one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000), with appropriate fractions thereof.

(3) The fee shall be the amount assessed under paragraph (1) or (2), depending on building type, or fifty cents ($0.50), whichever is the higher.

(b) (1) In lieu of the requirements of subdivision (a), a city, county, and city and county may elect to include a rate of thirteen dollars ($13) per one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000), with appropriate fractions thereof, in its basic building permit fee for any Group R occupancy defined in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a), and a rate of twenty-eight dollars ($28) per one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000), with appropriate fractions thereof, for all other building types. A city, county, and city and county electing to collect the fee pursuant to this subdivision need not segregate the fees in a fund separate from any fund into which basic building permit fees are deposited.

(2) “Building,” for the purpose of this chapter, is any structure built for the support, shelter, or enclosure of persons, animals, chattels, or property of any kind.

(c) (1) A city, county, and city and county may retain up to 5 percent of the total amount it collects under subdivision (a) or (b) for data utilization, for seismic education incorporating data interpretations from data of the strong-motion instrumentation program and the seismic hazards mapping program, and, in accordance with paragraph (2), for improving the preparation for damage assessment after strong seismic motion events.

(2) A city, county, and city and county may use any funds retained pursuant to this subdivision to improve the preparation for damage assessment in its jurisdiction only after it provides the Department of Conservation with information indicating to the department that data utilization and seismic education activities have been adequately funded.

(d) Funds collected pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b), less the amount retained pursuant to subdivision (c), shall be deposited in the Strong-Motion Instrumentation and Seismic Hazards Mapping Fund, as created by Section 2699.5 to be used exclusively for purposes of this chapter, Chapter 7.5 (commencing with Section 2621), and Chapter 7.8 (commencing with Section 2690).

(Amended by Stats. 2014, Ch. 35, Sec. 129. (SB 861) Effective June 20, 2014.)