(1) On or before August 1, 1994, the department shall, pursuant to 76-13-207, MCA, set the annual fire assessment fee due from landowners pursuant to Title 76, chapter 13, parts 1 and 2, MCA. The total of all statewide landowner assessments must be as equal as administratively possible to but no greater than one-third of the amount appropriated by the legislature to fund the protection costs.

(2) The individual assessments must be established using the following criteria:

(a) Each person who is responsible for fire protection pursuant to 76-13-108 and 76-13-201, MCA, and for whom the department provides fire protection, must be assessed a per capita landowner fee. The total per capita landowner assessments statewide from persons who own 20 acres or less of land for which the department provides protection must be as close as administratively possible to 50% of the total private landowner assessments.

(b) A person who owns more than 20 acres of land for which the department provides protection shall, in addition to the fee assessed pursuant to (a) , pay a per acre fee for each whole acre that the person owns in excess of 20 acres. The total of all assessments statewide from persons who own more than 20 acres must be as close as administratively possible to 50% of the total statewide assessment.

(3) Except as provided in (a) , the per capita and per acre fees set for 1994 must remain in effect for subsequent years.

(a) The department shall reset the per capita and per acre fees whenever:

(i) it is necessary to reset fees to obtain the amount appropriated by the legislature; or

(ii) the fees assessed statewide pursuant to (2) (a) on persons who own 20 acres or less of land for which the department provides protection obtain more than 55% or less than 45% of the total amount appropriated by the legislature.

(b) whenever the department resets the fees pursuant to (a) , it shall do so in accordance with (2) and the fees must remain in effect until either of the conditions in (a) is met.