SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — California Senate Democrats on Tuesday highlighted a package of bills they’re calling the Golden State Commitment, a legislative set they say is intended to bolster the state’s response to wildfire and make communities safer.
The move comes about a month after the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires erupted in Los Angeles County. The fires destroyed thousands of structures and led to some two dozen deaths.
The 13 bills and budget investment proposals touch on a range of fire-related issues, including prevention, rebuilding and recovery, as well as heightening protections for homeowners and renters and the stabilization of the insurance market.
“The Senate is advancing an ambitious slate of policies to help California prepare for and prevent the next destructive wildfire, all while helping thousands in the greater LA region recover and rebuild strong,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire, a North Coast Democrat, in a statement. “Every one of the bills in this package is essential to helping communities stabilize in the aftermath of a tragic natural disaster.”
Parts of the bill package aren’t new. McGuire and other Senate Democrats earlier this month unveiled what they called the Fight for Firefighters Act. It’s intended to stop the seasonal layoffs of some firefighters, as fire season in California is now year-round.
Some of the bills in the legislative package are linked to states of emergency, which a governor can call when natural or manmade disaster hits an area.
One bill would require local governments to offer streamlined approval for housing developments damaged during an emergency. Another bill would raise the penalties for someone impersonating a firefighter or first-responder, as well as for someone looting in an evacuation area. Someone convicted of aggravated arson could face a harsher sentence.
“As [firefighters and first responders] worked to save lives, they faced a new dangerous threat: looters and impersonators,” said state Senator Bob Archuleta, a Pico Rivera Democrat and bill author, in a statement. “I’m proud to work alongside my colleagues to increase penalties for these heartless criminals.”
Additionally, the bill package includes legislation targeting price gouging and property tax relief.
The price-gouging bill calls for heightened enforcement of price gouging for homes, rentals and lodging. It also would require online platforms to report price gouging to authorities.
The property tax relief bill focuses on ensuring properties damaged or destroyed keep their welfare property tax exemption. It also extends the deadline for someone to file a misfortune and calamity claim.
“For many, generations of wealth were wiped out by the devastating blazes,” said state Senator Jerry McNerney, a Pleasanton Democrat, in a statement. “Our bill will double the amount of time survivors have to access property tax relief, while extending the length of time survivors have to rebuild.”
The bill package also seeks to augment the state’s insurance market.
One bill would create an Insurance Community Hardening Commission. That body would create statewide fire standards for mitigating risk in high fire-risk areas. Bill authors said that would make accessing insurance easier, as wildfire mitigation would have a universal standard.
Another bill would extend the existing one-year moratorium on residential policy nonrenewals in the perimeter or adjoining ZIP codes of wildfires, and add commercial policies to the moratorium.
State Senate Democrats also offered some budget proposals related to wildfire relief.
One idea is to create a one-time disaster relief fund for people affected by the fires and who can’t get financial help from other sources. Another is to get daily attendance funding to schools that had students flee the fires, as well as money for school districts that had an influx of those students.
Specific dollar amounts weren’t mentioned.
While some California Republicans expressed support for the Fight for Firefighters Act, they’ve also criticized Democrats for not focusing enough on prevention efforts.
Republicans have their own bill package of fire-related legislation which they unveiled last week. It includes bills that would create a wildfire smoke and health data platform, offer a tax credit to homeowners who harden their homes against fire and exempt undergrounding power lines from the California Environmental Quality Act.