Governor Newsom signs bipartisan legislation to boost ongoing Los Angeles rebuilding efforts, strengthen future disaster response and recovery

What you need to know: Governor Newsom signed a bipartisan package of bills to aid in the rebuilding and recovery efforts in Los Angeles following the devastating fires earlier this year. This legislation represents one of the most significant reforms to the state's disaster response, incorporating lessons learned and strengthening California's ability to respond to future disasters.

ALTADENA - Governor Gavin Newsom today announced he signed a bipartisan package of bills to support the ongoing rebuilding and recovery efforts in Los Angeles after the devastating fires earlier this year. The legislation also strengthens the state's response and recovery posture for future disasters, including by codifying numerous actions the Governor has taken by Executive Order to protect Los Angeles fire survivors, ensuring that these protections also benefit survivors of future disasters. The package represents one of the most significant and comprehensive reforms to the state's disaster response efforts in history.

The Governor joined wildfire survivors and legislators in Altadena this week to sign several of the bills. Among other things, the legislation:

• Protects homeowners and tenants immediately following a disaster
• Provides property tax relief for wildfire survivors
• Helps workers recover
• Makes it easier to rebuild
• Makes insurance work better for property owners and small businesses
• Cracks down on looting and first responder impersonators in evacuation zones
• Reduces risk of catastrophic wildfire

"While it's been nine months since these firestorms struck Los Angeles, the destruction and devastation left behind is still fresh for thousands of survivors and remains a constant reminder that we have more to do to support our fellow Californians. Together with the legislature, we're putting the lessons we learned in January into action and delivering the most significant upgrade to California's disaster response and recovery efforts in years - supporting wildfire survivors now and in the future."

Governor Gavin Newsom

Last month, Governor Newsom signed into law legislation to help homeowners affected by the Los Angeles fires receive mortgage relief.

Supporting survivors by improving disaster response and recovery

✅ Protecting homeowners and tenants after disaster. AB 299 (Gabriel) allows people displaced by disasters to stay in hotels, motels, or short-term rentals for extended periods without being treated as tenants. By delaying tenancy status until 270 consecutive days of occupancy, the bill provides stability for survivors by facilitating hotel and short-term rental operators' ability to extend reservations. SB 610 (Pérez) expands disaster protections for tenants, mobile home residents, and borrowers. Landlords must remove hazardous debris and maintain habitability, while tenants retain return rights at pre-disaster rents. Mobile home residents are entitled to rent refunds, relief during evacuations, and relocation benefits if parks close. AB 851 (McKinnor) temporarily prohibits unsolicited real estate purchase offers in specified fire-affected ZIP codes in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties until January 1, 2027, protecting homeowners from predatory buyers during recovery.

✅ Providing property tax relief to wildfire survivors. AB 245 (Gipson) gives households additional time to rebuild their home or business without experiencing a property tax increase. SB 293 (Pérez) gives homeowners more time to bring their property ownership records up to date to avoid unintended tax penalties from a reassessment. SB 663 (Allen) provides low-income veterans, churches, and nonprofits additional clarity about their property tax exemption as they rebuild from the fires.

✅ Helping workers recover. AB 338 (Solache) directs critical funding to support the rebuilding and recovery of areas affected by the wildfires by investing in workforce development strategies, including education, high road training partnerships, and supportive services for underemployed and unemployed low- to moderate-income individuals.

✅ Making it easier to rebuild. AB 462 (Lowenthal) streamlines approvals for accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in the Coastal Zone, requiring decisions on coastal permits within 60 days and eliminating unnecessary Coastal Commission appeals (previously signed). It also allows ADUs to receive occupancy certificates before a primary dwelling is rebuilt in disaster zones. AB 818 (Ávila Farías) accelerates local permitting for rebuilding homes and siting temporary housing after disasters. Residents may place manufactured homes, modular homes, or detached ADUs on private lots during reconstruction, and local governments must act on permit applications for such homes within 10 business days. SB 625 (Wahab) limits homeowners' associations' authority to delay or block the rebuilding of homes destroyed in disasters over design differences. SB 676 (Limon) establishes expedited administrative and judicial review procedures under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for projects that maintain, repair, restore, demolish, or replace wildfire-damaged property or facilities located in an area for which the Governor declared a state of emergency, beginning January 1, 2027.

✅ Making insurance work better for homeowners and small businesses. In the event of a covered total loss of a home resulting from a disaster covered by a state of emergency proclamation, SB 495 (Allen) requires insurers to offer 60 percent of the personal property policy coverage limit, up to $350,000, without an itemized claim from the policyholder. It extends the deadline for a policyholder to provide the insurer with proof of loss from 60 to 100 days following the loss. SB 547 (Perez) prohibits an insurer from canceling or refusing to renew a commercial property insurance policy for one year from the declaration of a state of emergency, if the commercial property is located within the perimeter of a wildfire or in an adjacent ZIP Code.

✅ Cracking down on looting and first responder impersonators and improving overall response. AB 468 (Gabriel) significantly increases the criminal penalties for looting in an evacuation zone. Of special importance is the bill's focus on residents: the increased penalties apply for one year following an evacuation order for any residence damaged in a disaster, and for three years for residences under repair or reconstruction. SB 571 (Archuleta) seeks to thwart those who impersonate first responders to gain access to evacuation zones, particularly to loot. The bill creates a new crime: fraudulently impersonating a first responder in an area subject to an evacuation order. SB 499 (Stern) allows local governments to collect park impact fees earlier in the development process when the parks are designated for emergency or disaster response. Recognizing parks as critical infrastructure for evacuation, staging, and wildfire mitigation, the bill adjusts fee timing rules to strengthen disaster preparedness.

✅ Reducing risk of catastrophic wildfire. Modeled off a similar program in Alabama, AB 888 (Calderon) creates the California Safe Homes grant program to provide grants to low-income homeowners to replace their roofs with fire-safe roofs and to fund defensible space vegetation clearing projects. SB 429 (Cortese) establishes the Wildfire Safety and Risk Mitigation Program at the Department of Insurance. The program provides funding to one or more universities to create a research educational center responsible for developing, demonstrating, and deploying a public wildfire catastrophe model that provides significant wildfire safety benefits to California communities and assists alignment of federal, State, and local wildfire risk reduction efforts.

The full list of bills the Governor signed is below:

• AB 245 by Assemblymember Mike Gipson (D-Carson) - Property taxation: application of base year value: disaster relief.
• AB 299 by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino) - Motels, hotels, and short-term lodging: disasters.
• AB 338 by Assemblymember José Luis Solache (D-Lynwood) - Workforce development: the Counties of Los Angeles and Ventura: 2025 wildfires.
• AB 468 by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino) - Crimes: looting.
• AB 818 by Assemblymember Anamarie Ávila Farías (D-Martinez) - Permit Streamlining Act: local emergencies.
• AB 851 by Assemblymember Tina McKinnor (D-Inglewood) - Real property transactions: Counties of Los Angeles and Ventura wildfires: unsolicited offers.
• AB 888 by Assemblymember Lisa Calderon (D-Whittier) - California Safe Homes grant program.
• AB 1003 by Assemblymember Lisa Calderon (D-Whitter) - Public health: emergency plans and wildfire research.
• AB 1075 by Assemblymember Issac Bryan (D-Los Angeles) - Fire protection: privately contracted fire prevention resources: public water sources.
• SB 293 by Senator Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Pasadena) - Real property tax: transfer of base year value: generational transfers: wildfire.
• SB 394 by Senator Benjamin Allen (D-Santa Monica) - Water theft: fire hydrants.
• SB 429 by Senator Dave Cortese (D-Silicon Valley) - Wildfire Safety and Risk Mitigation Program.
• SB 495 by Senator Benjamin Allen (D-Santa Monica) - Insurance.
• SB 499 by Senator Henry Stern (D-Los Angeles) - Residential projects: fees and charges.
• SB 547 by Senator Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Pasadena) - Commercial property insurance cancellation and nonrenewal.
• SB 571 by Senator Bob Archuleta (D-Pico Rivera) - Emergencies: crimes.
• SB 582 by Senator Henry Stern (D-Los Angeles) - Health and care facilities: licensing during emergencies or disasters.
• SB 610 by Senator Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Pasadena) - Disaster assistance: tenants, mobilehome parks, and mortgages.
• SB 625 by Senator Aisha Wahab (D-Silicon Valley) - Housing developments: disasters: reconstruction of destroyed or damaged structures.
• SB 663 by Senator Benjamin Allen (D-Santa Monica) - Winter Fires of 2025: real property tax: exemptions and reassessment.
• SB 676 by Senator Monique Limón (D-Santa Barbara) - California Environmental Quality Act: judicial streamlining: state of emergency: wildfire.
• SB 760 by Senator Benjamin Allen (D-Santa Monica) - Behested payments: public appeal for payment.
• SB 782 by Senator Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Pasadena) - Enhanced infrastructure financing district: climate resilience districts.