AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 21, 2026

AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 17, 2026

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

97

Introduced by Senator Archuleta

(Coauthors: Senators Dahle, Grayson, and Rubio)

February 9, 2026

An act to add Section 8585.6 to the Government Code, and to amend Section 409.5 of the Penal Code, relating to emergency services.

Vote: majority   Appropriation: no   Fiscal committee: yes   Local program: no

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

Existing law creates the Office of Emergency Services within the office of the Governor and sets forth its powers and duties, including establishing by rule and regulation various classes of disaster service workers, the scope and duty of each class, and the way disaster service workers of each class are to be registered.

Existing law authorizes officers of the Department of the California Highway Patrol, police departments, marshal’s office or sheriff’s office, and officers or employees of the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection or the Department of Fish and Wildlife designated as peace officers to close to all unauthorized persons an area where a menace to the public health or safety created by a calamity exists for the duration of the menace and the immediate area surrounding any emergency field command post or any other command post activated for the purpose of abating a calamity, riot, or other civil disturbance, as specified. Under existing law, an unauthorized person who enters or remains in a closed area, as prescribed, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

This bill would, beginning on July 1, 2028, require the Office of Emergency Services, upon request, to issue a local agency, corporation, public utility, or mutual water company responsible for public works and critical infrastructure with specified credentialing to facilitate personnel access to an area during or following a natural disaster, act of terrorism, or other man-made disaster. The bill would specify that the credentialing, a Personal Identity Verification-Interoperable (PIV-I), would conform with the federal Personal Identity Verification standards pursuant to federal National Incident Management System guidelines.

This bill would require the application for a PIV-I card to be signed by a duly authorized representative of a local agency, corporation, public utility, or mutual water company and include a certification by the local agency, corporation, public utility, or mutual water company.

This bill would authorize require the office to impose and collect a fee from a local agency, corporation, public utility, or mutual water company for a PIV-I card that does not exceed the reasonable costs of the identification card program.

This bill would specify that the authorization for particular officers to close an area, as described above, shall not prevent an individual who holds a valid PIV-I card or an individual who holds a valid identification card issued by a local agency, public utility, or mutual water company from entering the closed area unless a peace officer finds that the disaster is of such a nature that it would be unsafe for the cardholder to enter or that the presence of the cardholder would interfere with disaster response.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

The Legislature finds and declares the following:

(a) Electrical, natural gas, water, and wastewater systems represent critical infrastructure that is vulnerable to a wide range of natural and man-made disasters. Critical services such as firefighting and health care, as well as other dependent and interdependent sectors like public health and critical manufacturing, could experience severe consequences from disruptions in utility services.

(b) Preserving critical infrastructure functions, minimizing health and safety threats, and efficiently restoring and revitalizing systems and services requires timely access to critical infrastructure by utility personnel.

(c) The use of a common approach for managing access and phased reentry into evacuation zones is particularly important during incidents that require significant population evacuations to ensure the coordination of public and private sector response and recovery assets and restoration of critical infrastructure and essential public services.

(d) The Office of Emergency Services, pursuant to its California Emergency Services Act responsibilities to prepare the state for disasters, may do both the following:

(1) Provide guidance to local emergency management agencies to ensure that there is a process to coordinate and approve resources for access into restricted areas in order to improve coordination with utilities requiring access and law enforcement entities enforcing access controls.

(2) Encourage a review of emergency preparedness plans regarding lines of authority and existing control and management procedures regarding the establishment of access requirements and the conduct of reentry operations during emergencies to enable utility personnel to timely participate in response and recovery operations in order to minimize or eliminate the potential loss of life and property damage.

SEC. 2.

Section 8585.6 is added to the Government Code, to read:

8585.6.

(a) Beginning on July 1, 2028, the office shall, upon request, issue a local agency, corporation, public utility, or mutual water company responsible for public works and critical infrastructure with credentialing to facilitate personnel access to an area during or following a natural disaster, act of terrorism, or other man-made disaster.

(b) The office shall prepare and make available no later than July 1, 2028, an application for a local agency, corporation, public utility, or mutual water company to request that an individual be issued a Personal Identity Verification-Interoperable (PIV-I) credential that conforms with the federal Personal Identity Verification standards pursuant to federal National Incident Management System guidelines. The office shall provide a PIV-I card upon receipt of the application signed by a duly authorized representative of a local agency, corporation, public utility, or mutual water company that includes a statement justifying the need for the individual to receive that identification for purposes of access to those areas and certification by the local agency, corporation, or mutual water company. areas. The application shall also indicate that the individual has completed appropriate education, training, experience, and certification or licensure for performing the purposes for access. an emergency support function discipline or activity.

(c) Access to an area closed in accordance with subdivision (a) of Section 409.5 of the Penal Code shall may be granted to an individual issued a PIV-I card by the incident commander, a law enforcement official having jurisdiction, or their designee. If access is granted by emergency response personnel other than the incident commander, the emergency response personnel shall notify the incident commander that access has been provided to the individual issued a PIV-I card.

(d) A PIV-I card issued by the office shall be valid for five years from the date of issuance and shall be renewable upon submission of an application for renewal.

(e) A local agency, corporation, public utility, or mutual water company shall be responsible to collect and destroy a PIV-I card if the individual issued a PIV-I card ceases employment with the employer or the job duties of the individual change, making access afforded by the PIV-I card no longer appropriate.

(f) The office shall impose and collect a fee from a local agency, corporation, public utility, or mutual water company for a PIV-I card that does not exceed the reasonable costs of issuing the card and administration of the program described in this section.

SEC. 3.

Section 409.5 of the Penal Code is amended to read:

409.5.

(a) When a menace to the public health or safety is created by a calamity including a flood, storm, fire, earthquake, explosion, accident, or other disaster, officers of the Department of the California Highway Patrol, police departments, marshal’s office or sheriff’s office, an officer or employee of the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection designated a peace officer by subdivision (g) of Section 830.2, an officer or employee of the Department of Parks and Recreation designated a peace officer by subdivision (f) of Section 830.2, an officer or employee of the Department of Fish and Wildlife designated a peace officer under subdivision (e) of Section 830.2, and a publicly employed full-time lifeguard or publicly employed full-time marine safety officer while acting in a supervisory position in the performance of their official duties, may close the area where the menace exists for the duration of the menace by means of ropes, markers, or guards to all persons not authorized by the lifeguard or officer to enter or remain within the enclosed area. If the calamity creates an immediate menace to the public health, the local health officer may close the area where the menace exists pursuant to the conditions set forth in this section.

(b) Officers of the Department of the California Highway Patrol, police departments, marshal’s office or sheriff’s office, officers of the Department of Fish and Wildlife designated as peace officers by subdivision (e) of Section 830.2, or officers of the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection designated as peace officers by subdivision (g) of Section 830.2 may close the immediate area surrounding any emergency field command post or any other command post activated for the purpose of abating a calamity enumerated in this section or a riot or other civil disturbance to all unauthorized persons pursuant to the conditions set forth in this section whether or not the field command post or other command post is located near the actual calamity or riot or other civil disturbance.

(c) An unauthorized person who willfully and knowingly enters an area closed pursuant to subdivision (a) or (b) and who willfully remains within the area after receiving notice to evacuate or leave shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

(d) (1) This section shall not prevent a duly authorized representative of a news service, newspaper, or radio or television station or network from entering the areas closed pursuant to this section.

(2) This subdivision does not authorize a duly authorized representative of a news service, newspaper, or radio or television station or network to facilitate the entry of a person into, or facilitate the transport of a person within, an area closed, unless for the safety of the person, pursuant to this section if that person is not a duly authorized representative of a news service, newspaper, or radio or television station or network.

(e) This section shall not prevent an individual who holds a valid livestock pass identification document, pursuant to Section 2350 of the Food and Agricultural Code, from entering the areas closed pursuant to this section, unless a peace officer identified in subdivision (a) finds that the disaster is of such a nature that it would be unsafe for the documentholder to enter or that the presence of the documentholder would interfere with disaster response.

(f) This section shall not prevent an individual who holds a valid PIV-I card issued pursuant to Section 8585.6 of the Government Code or an individual who holds a valid identification card issued by a local agency, public utility, as defined in Section 216 of the Public Utilities Code, or mutual water company from entering an area closed pursuant to this section unless a peace officer identified in subdivision (a) finds that the disaster is of such a nature that it would be unsafe for the cardholder to enter or that the presence of the cardholder would interfere with disaster response.

SEC. 4.

Nothing in this measure is intended to impact the relationship, duties, or responsibilities as between the Office of Emergency Services and local emergency operations plans, emergency operations centers, and the incident command system.