(a) The Office of the State Fire Marshal is hereby created in the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The Office of the State Fire Marshal shall be administered by the State Fire Marshal, who shall be a Chief Deputy Director of Forestry and Fire Protection in accordance with paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 702 of the Public Resources Code and appointed pursuant to Section 13101 of this code.
(b) The Office of the State Fire Marshal and the State Fire Marshal in the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection succeed to, and are vested with, all of the powers, duties, responsibilities, and jurisdiction of the former Office of the State Fire Marshal and the former State Fire Marshal, as the case may be, in the State and Consumer Services Agency.
(c) Wherever any reference is made in any law to the former Office of the State Fire Marshal or to the former State Fire Marshal in the State and Consumer Services Agency pertaining to a power, duty, responsibility, or jurisdiction transferred to, and vested in, the Office of the State Fire Marshal or the State Fire Marshal in the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the reference shall be deemed to be a reference to, and to mean, the Office of the State Fire Marshal or the State Fire Marshal in the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, as the case may be.
(Amended by Stats. 1996, Ch. 332, Sec. 3. Effective January 1, 1997.)