Assembly bills aim to reduce fire risks, protect homeowners

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CA — Assemblyman Marc Levine (D-Marin) announced a package of bills to support homeowners living in high climate crisis risk areas like Clayton, while also helping prevent property loss by encouraging planning that takes the realities of the climate crisis at face value.

The Assembly will consider the bills this spring:

• 1403, allowing a governor or local government to declare a state of emergency related to a Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS).
• 1409, requiring a local government’s general plan to include emergency evacuation locations.
• 1439, requiring property insurance providers to take into consideration local government investments in wildfire prevention when determining insurance rates.
• 1445, requiring a local government to take emergency evacuation capacity and the impacts of climate change into consideration when determining future housing development.
• 1522, prohibiting an insurer from denying a property owner insurance coverage just because the property is in a high-risk wildfire area.

Power shutoffs

In October 2019, PG&E initiated a series of PSPS events that left millions of Californians without electricity. The unprecedented scale of these power shutoffs significantly impacted first responders and left millions of residents and small businesses scrambling to find alternative sources of electricity.

Because they were planned electrical outages, they did not meet the existing definition of emergency – thus delaying state and local government emergency declarations. Levine’s AB 1403 would give a governor and local leaders explicit authority to declare an emergency based upon a PSPS and ensure a rapid deployment of resources.

Following the devastation in Paradise caused by the 2018 Camp Fire, Levine successfully authored legislation that required local government general plans to include emergency evacuation routes necessary to protect lives during an emergency. Levine’s AB 1409 would update this law by requiring local general plans to include specific emergency evacuation locations.

Reducing wildfire risks

Devastating wildfires, floods and other natural disasters over the past decade have forced state and local governments to rethink their roles in reducing future wildfire, flood and climate crisis risk. Levine’s AB 1439 would incentivize local governments to make investments in reducing and mitigating wildfire risk by requiring a residential property insurance discount if a local government adopts a dedicated local fire prevention program.

Governments must also take into account where we grow. Levine’s AB 1445 would require a local government to take emergency evacuation capacity and the impacts of the climate crisis into consideration when determining future housing development.

While action must be taken to address California’s housing crisis, building new housing in high-risk areas will only increase potential loss of life and property in areas prone to wildfire, flooding or other impacts of climate change.

As California’s wildfires and floods have become more destructive, many homeowners in high-risk areas have found it increasingly difficult to maintain insurance policies. In November, state insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara announced a one-year moratorium on insurance companies non-renewing or canceling residential property insurance policies. Levine’s AB 1522 would prohibit an insurer from denying a new or renewed residential property insurance policy because the property is in a high-risk area.