State senators gathered in Pasadena on Friday afternoon to protect tenants, expand firefighters staffing and include a fund program for evacuated K-12 students and community colleges. The bill’s slate has been announced.
Lawmakers called for an effort to “invest” 13 bill packages in California “fire-safe.”
“This is one of the toughest times that LA cities and counties have seen in almost a century,” Senator Mike McGuire (D-North Coast) said outside the Pasadena First United Methodist Church. I did. McGuire and legislative leaders have pledged to deal with people affected by the wildfires that burned the Los Angeles belt last month.
It is typical for bills to go to Congress in June and land on the governor’s desk in September, but McGuire said, “We will move some of these bills quickly through Congress and we will be here in the next 60 days.” I said I wanted it to be on the damn governor’s desk.
Sen. Ben Allen (D. Santa Monica), who co-authored three bills on the package on behalf of Pacific Palisade, said the law was “to do everything possible to reduce the likelihood of such a disaster, and He said he’s giving. They’re a very deep and appropriate relief.”
Written by Senator Tom Umberg (D-Santa Ana) and Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (D-Los Angeles), one bill protects people who are avoiding temporary housing, accommodation and rental price adjustments Add civil penalties for this. It also allows the state attorney general to issue a warrant against the offender.
Another proposal requires businesses to provide temporary mortgage relief. If established, tenants can already regain some of their rent on their pay if they had to move due to a wildfire. Mobile homes located in “emergency coverage areas” will acquire temporary rent control.
Sen. Susan Rubio (D. Bardwin Park), chairing the Senate Insurance Committee, has announced that his colleagues will focus on wildfire mitigation efforts, and that homeowners and developers will be able to make the building more fire resistant. We have introduced a plan to establish it.
Another bill, written by Rubio and Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Burbank), proposes expanding the one-year non-renewal moratorium on insurance. The authors argue that this will protect small businesses and apartment complexes following the wildfire.
McGuire introduced the first part of the sweep package earlier this week. Called the Firefighters Act of 2025, it will create approximately 3,000 seasonal firefighters who will work nine months a year and be fired by employees throughout the winter.
“Let’s blunt, we won’t have three months off wildfires,” McGuire said at a press conference.
The plan would also ensure that the state’s vegetation management crew and CAL fire engines are operational year-round. His office said the proposal is a “deeply needed” staffing plan as the state costs more than $185 million a year and continues to burn at historic rates in the West. I stated.
Last month, Congressional Democrats introduced a bill focused on the homes of displaced Angeleno.
This includes laws that allow homeowners to facilitate coastal development permits for accessory housing units. Other bills include creating temporary eviction exemptions to allow evacuees to stay in temporary homes. Another person can receive a mortgage deferral of up to one year, anyone who loses their home.
Republicans across the aisle have introduced a bill that includes an array focused on strengthening criminal penalties to address recent cases of people suspected of looting or other criminal activity during wildfires .
The two were introduced last month, increasing penalties for looting, and committing robbery during large wildfires and other types of disasters has become a felony. One bill from Sen. Suzette Martinez Valladares (R-Santa Clarita) would also be a felony to impersonate a police officer or firefighter during an emergency.
Lawmakers also want to make it a felony to fly drones over an emergency and to step up the aggravated arson sentence if a wildfire destroys more than 500 acres. The recent pleading guilty to a misdemeanor in a Los Angeles federal court was committed after a drone collided with a fire aircraft working in a Palisade fire.
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