California will spend $2.5 billion to help the Los Angeles area recover from the recent deadly wildfires under a relief package signed by Democrat Gavin Newsom on Thursday.
Newsom signed the law into law after the state Legislature approved bipartisan support earlier in the day. The measure includes $2.5 billion for the state’s emergency disaster response efforts, including evacuations, protection of survivors, and removal of household hazardous waste. Lawmakers also approved $4 million to help local governments streamline approvals for rebuilding homes and $1 million to help school districts rebuild facilities.
“This is about distilling a sense of hope,” Newsom said at a news conference in Pasadena, a city recovering from one of the devastating fires that ignited earlier this month.
Aid won approval for President Donald Trump to visit California to see damage from the blaze. He suggests there should be conditions for federal wildfire relief, although the nation’s leading Republicans in Congress have pushed back on the idea. Former President Joe Biden already approved disaster relief for the region earlier this month.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, left, Pacifian Nick Schuller, center, and Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., survey the damage in Pacific Palisades. (Jeff Gritchen/The Orange County Register via AP) Lt. Matt Phillips of the Kitsap County Firefighters Strike Team on Bainbridge Island, Wash., leads crews as they check a home for structural issues after the Palisade Fire in the Pacific Palisade neighborhood of Los Angeles on Friday. Jan. 17, 2025 (AP Photo/Richard Vogel) Aerial views show the devastation from the Pallizard fire at a beachfront home Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, in Malibu, Calif. (AP Photo/Je Hong) It shows. A utility truck parked near a house destroyed by the Palisades fire as vegetables cause damage and loss in the LA area on January 13, 2025 in Pacific Palisades, California. (Photo by Mario Tama/ Getty Images)
Newsom called lawmakers into a special session in November to prepare for a legal battle against the Trump administration. But after major fires broke out around Los Angeles, the governor shifted gears to prioritize fire relief funding. He expanded the focus of the special session to pass recovery funds under pressure from Republican state lawmakers who said the focus on Trump was misplaced while the state dealt with the disaster. .
Republican state Sen. Kelly Sayert criticized Newsom for not issuing fire relief funds himself, but Sayert ultimately supported the bill.
In the future, he said Democrats should do a better job of working with Republicans to craft legislation for fire response and prevention funding.
“We need a plan from all of us to ensure this never happens again,” he said.
The state Senate also approved $25 million Thursday to defend the state from legal challenges by the federal government, and another $25 million in legislation to defend immigrants facing deportation and other threats. approved an additional $25 million. The vote fell largely along party lines. The state Legislature still needs to pass the bills before they reach Newsom’s desk.
Southern California’s largest blaze in recent memory ignited on January 7, tearing through Los Angeles’ Pacific Palisades neighborhood and killing 11 people. The Eaton Fire, which broke out the same day near Altadena, killed 17 people.
The region is currently battling the Fuse Fire, which ignited on Wednesday north of Los Angeles, expanded 15 square miles (39 square kilometers) and resulted in evacuation orders or warnings for more than 50,000 people.
Photo: Multiple wildfires ravage Southern California
State Senate President Mike McGuire, a Democrat who represents the north coast, said the fires were “nothing short of devastating.”
“But I promise you we have your back, and we will get through this,” he said before Newsom signed the aid into law.
Newsom’s administration said the state expects to be reimbursed by the federal government for disaster relief funds.
The governor also announced a commitment by 270 state characterized banks, credit unions, and lenders to provide mortgage relief to homeowners affected by the fires in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. did.
Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, an Encino Democrat and chairman of the chamber’s special session budget committee, said his family was ordered to evacuate for six days while they battled the Pallizard fire. .
The funding passed by Congress on Thursday is the “first of many steps” lawmakers said will be taken to support wildfire survivors and protect communities from the threat of future blazes.
“No community is immune from these wildfires,” Gabriel said. “That’s part of what the Los Angeles tragedy proved to us.”
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Austin is a corps member of the Associated Press/Report American State University News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercover issues. X: Follow Austin at @Sophiedanna
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