Monumental Package of Bills Investing in Firesafe California Passed by the State Senate
SACRAMENTO – Senator Dave Cortese (D-Silicon Valley) today stood with California Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire and a strong, bipartisan coalition of Senators to pass an historic package of fire bills – including one of which Senator Cortese is the primary author, one he joint authored with Senators Rubio and Stern, and several he co-authored - to strengthen California’s wildfire response, make our residents and communities more wildfire resilient and improve recovery efforts.
“These bills along with several budget proposals are going to take California to another level when it comes to protecting our residents and communities now facing a year round fire season. This is truly a commitment. There is no time to waste after the fires in the Los Angeles area ravaged the homes and lives of thousands of people. We don’t know what community will be next” said Senator Dave Cortese.
“I also co-authored the bill that will transition all 3,000 CAL FIRE firefighters to year-round permanent positions. For example, part-time CAL FIRE stations have been common in Santa Clara County. The bipartisan legislation will fully staff all 356 CAL FIRE engines, all heli attack bases 365 days per year.
The following bills were passed and now move to the California Assembly for action.
SB 429 – Authored by Senator Cortese. The bill creates the nation’s first public wildfire catastrophe model, improving insurance transparency and risk planning.
“Up until now, insurance risk analysis data has been private and opaque. If homeowners know what their risk score is, they can mitigate wildfire risk to bring down wildfire liability at their home and property,” said Senator Dave Cortese (D-Silicon Valley). “A public wildfire catastrophe model predicts future losses and can be a benchmark for fair and accurate insurance rates and provide accessible data for wildfire safety efforts.
State Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara supports the bill.
The public model strategy group chaired by Cal Poly Humboldt, has released its final report and recommendations. Click here:
SB 616 – Senator Cortese joint-authored this bill with Senator Susan Rubio (D-Los Angeles) and Senator Henry Stern (D-Los Angeles. SB 616 establishes the Community Hardening Commission to develop new wildfire mitigation standards that reduce fire risk and improve insurance access. By aligning policies across state agencies, streamlining home hardening efforts, and enhancing data-sharing on wildfire risks, this bill helps protect homes, businesses, and public safety while making communities more insurable.
“By creating one set of bedrock standards with the homeowner complying with those hardening standards, homeowners, developers, and builders can more easily comply with mitigations. This will finally allow homeowners a simpler path forward to access insurance or keep their standard homeowners insurance policy,” said Senator Dave Cortese.
SB 36 - PRICE GOUGING (Senators Umberg and Smallwood-Cuevas; Co-Authored by Senator Cortese) Curb price gouging by adding civil remedies and penalties to protect victims displaced by a state or local emergency. Stronger enforcement of price gouging for housing, lodging, or rental violations by authorizing Attorney General warrant authority, and require online housing platforms to provide evidence of price gouging to law enforcement.
SB 610: Expand Protections for Homeowners, Tenants and Mobile Home Residents in the Wake of an Emergency: (Senators Pérez, Allen and Wahab) Require the State to convene mortgage companies to provide temporary mortgage loan forbearance relief for homeowners. Allow tenants to recover a proportion of their paid rent if the tenancy agreement terminates due to a wildfire. Establish a temporary rent control for mobile homes in areas subject to a state of an emergency. Allow mobile home owners the right to return to a unit after a wildfire, as specified. Extends court timelines for unlawful detainer cases in areas subject to a state of an emergency.
SB 581 - Fight for Firefighters Act of 2025 (Senate President pro Tempore McGuire and Senators Grayson, Allen and Pérez; Co-Authored by Senator Cortese) Transitions all 3,000/9 month seasonal CAL FIRE firefighters to year-round permanent positions. This bipartisan legislation will fully staff all 356 CAL FIRE fire engines and all heli attack bases 365 days per year while keeping CAL FIRE wildfire vegetation management crews working for a full 12 months.
SB 663- Provide Property Tax Relief During A State of Emergency (Senators Allen, McNerney and Pérez; Co-authored by Senator Cortese) Ensure damaged or destroyed properties maintain their welfare property tax exemption. Extends the timeline for a taxpayer to file a misfortune and calamity claim, which provides property tax relief.
SB 625 – Speed-Up Residential Rebuilds Following a State of Emergency (Senators Wahab and Richardson; Co-Authored by Senator Cortese) Require local governments to provide streamlined ministerial approval of housing developments damaged in a declared emergency.
SB 547- Commercial Insurance Nonrenewal Moratorium (Senators Pérez and Rubio; Co-Authored by Senator Cortese) Expand the current one year insurance non-renewal moratorium for residential policies within the perimeters or adjoining ZIP Codes of wildfires to also include commercial policies, providing critical protection for small businesses and condominiums after wildfires.
SB 676 – Extend California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Streamlinging for LA Fires & Other Disasters (Senator Limón; Co-Authored by Senator Cortese) Extend the same CEQA streamlining already established on major infrastructure projects to projects rebuilding communities after disastrous LA wildfires. This could reduce months or years off any CEQA review that does apply to projects that may take months or years to be planned for and rebuilt. This will apply streamlining both prospectively and retroactively.
SB 582 – Rebuilding Health Facilities, Assisted Living and Child Care Facilities and Other Licensed Facilities (Senator Stern; Co-Authored by Senator Cortese) Establish licensing flexibilities for Nursing Homes and Assisted Living facilities that were destroyed or damaged in the LA fires, including expedited building permits and licensure approval and placement preference for those displaced to be near family or caregiver support.
SB 571- Strengthen Penalties Against Bad Actors During a State of Emergency (Senators Archuleta and Arreguín) Increase penalties for impersonating firefighters and other first responders, and for looting in a fire evacuation area. Ensure that an aggravated arson sentencing enhancement attaches to damage amounts at the time of the crime.
SB 629 – Keeping Communities Safe from Wildfires - (Senator Durazo; Co-Authored by Senator Cortese) Automatically designates areas that burn in a wildfire as within Very High Fire Zones. Mandate annual inspection of properties subject to defensible space maintenance requirements.
SB 326 – California Wildfire Mitigation Strategic Planning Act (Senators Becker and Laird; Co-Authored by Senator Cortese) Requires the Office of the State Fire Marshal to prepare a Wildfire Risk Mitigation Planning Framework every three years to quantitatively evaluate wildfire risk mitigations actions, establish a Wildfire Risk Baseline and Forecast every three years on a statewide level and by county, and submit a Wildfire Mitigation Scenarios Report every year.
SB 641 – Consumer Protection and Business Recovery (Senator Ashby; Co-Authored by Senator Cortese) Protects consumers by establishing timelines and certifications for appropriate debris removal and keep property owners and disaster area survivors safe from predatory practices by prohibiting a person from making an unsolicited purchase offer in a disaster area. Protects licensed professionals by waiving various licensure requirements when impacted by a wildfire or natural disasters, including but not limited to continuing education, fees and renewal deadlines.
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