California Wildfire Survivors Could See New Protections as Recovery Package Advances

Assemblymember John Harabedian (D-Pasadena) announced Thursday that all four bills in his wildfire recovery package cleared the Senate Appropriations Committee’s suspense file, moving the legislation closer to final passage.

“Today’s vote is an important step forward for wildfire survivors and for California’s approach to disaster recovery,” Harabedian said. “These four bills confront the realities families face after a wildfire and give survivors stronger protections when they are rebuilding their homes, their finances, and their lives. In Altadena and Pasadena, we have clearly seen where the system falls short. We have a responsibility to fix those gaps and make sure survivors are not left to carry the burden alone.”

Families can spend years trying to rebuild while facing temporary housing costs, mortgage payments, insurance uncertainty, and questions about whether their homes are safe to return to. Harabedian’s wildfire legislative package takes on each of those challenges.

• AB 1642 — Wildfire Contamination Standards: would establish statewide standards for post-wildfire contamination testing and remediation so communities have clear standards for determining when homes, schools, and other properties are safe to reoccupy.
• AB 1842 — The California Mortgage Relief Act: would create a statewide emergency mortgage forbearance framework for eligible homeowners whose homes become uninhabitable, providing a path to up to 12 months of forbearance.
• AB 1847 — Extending Mortgage Forbearance for L.A. Wildfire Victims: would extend existing mortgage forbearance protections for homeowners impacted by the Los Angeles wildfires, allowing eligible survivors to receive up to two years of mortgage forbearance in total while they recover and rebuild.
• AB 2038 — Extending the Insurance Moratorium for Post-Wildfire Recovery: would extend post-disaster nonrenewal insurance protections, giving homeowners and communities more stability to rebuild their lives.

The package is rooted in the lessons of the Eaton and Palisades fires and the experiences of survivors who continue to rebuild more than a year and a half after losing their homes.

All four bills will now advance through the remaining stages of the legislative process, with Senate floor votes expected by the end of August.