AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 28, 2026

AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 16, 2026

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

97

Introduced by Senator Richardson

February 20, 2026

An act to amend Sections 8654.2, 8654.7, 8654.8, and 8654.10 of the Government Code, relating to fire safety, and making an appropriation therefor.

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

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

Existing law, contingent upon an appropriation by the Legislature, requires the Office of Emergency Services to enter into a joint powers agreement with the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to develop and administer a comprehensive wildfire mitigation program to, among other things, encourage cost-effective structure hardening and retrofitting to create fire-resistant homes, businesses, and public buildings. Existing law requires the joint powers authority to develop eligibility criteria for property owners, community organizations, and local governments who may receive financial assistance under the program. Existing law authorizes the joint powers authority to accept any federal funds granted, by act of Congress or by executive order, for any purposes related to the wildfire mitigation program. Existing law requires the joint powers authority to submit a report to the Legislature regarding the implementation of the wildfire mitigation program, including specified information.

This bill would require the joint powers authority, upon appropriation for specified purposes, to provide financial assistance to the top 7th to 10th ranked counties, inclusive, counties with the greatest combined risk of wildfire and social vulnerability based on the above-described eligibility criteria, as provided. The bill would also require certain federal funding, subject to specified conditions, to revert to the joint powers authority to fund home hardening in those counties. The bill would authorize the Office of Emergency Services to exercise maximum discretion to adjust its funding allocations and strategy to include more counties with specified approaches to home hardening, as provided. The bill would require the joint powers authority to additionally include an evaluation of the amount of additional funding that would be required to expand the wildfire mitigation program to those counties.

This bill would make related findings and declarations.

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

SECTION 1.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) In 2017, over 1,300,000 acres burned due to high-severity wildfires and over 10,000 structures were destroyed. In 2018, over 1,800,000 acres burned and over 22,700 structures were destroyed. In the first month of 2025, major wildfires burned more than 50,000 acres.

(b) The Eaton and Palisades Fires alone destroyed or damaged more than 16,000 structures, including homes passed down from generation to generation, small businesses that began with a thought and became a visible reality, and places of worship across the County of Los Angeles that served as meeting places for those seeking a connection to their faith and a message of hope for even better days.

(c) These events cover a span of the past decade. From the City of Santa Rosa to Paradise to Altadena, Californians across the state have felt the emotional and financial devastation caused by the impact of these wind-driven fires.

(d) Existing law requires the Office of Emergency Services to enter into a joint powers agreement with the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to administer a comprehensive wildfire mitigation and assistance program to, among other things, encourage cost-effective structure hardening and retrofitting to create fire-resistant homes, businesses, and public buildings.

(e) The California Wildfire Mitigation Program (CWMP) was awarded a Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to develop a criteria and scoring methodology to prioritize financial assistance to areas and communities, create a framework for wildfire community hardening, and fund pilot hardening programs in the Counties of Lake, San Diego, Shasta, El Dorado, Tuolumne, and Siskiyou.

(f) The CWMP FEMA HMA grant funding has been fully allocated to the expenditures in subdivision (e).

SEC. 2.

Section 8654.2 of the Government Code is amended to read:

8654.2.

The Legislature finds and declares the following:

(a) Catastrophic threats exist to lives, property, and resources in California, including wildfire. Climate change, an epidemic of dead and dying trees, and the proliferation of new homes in the wildland urban interface magnify this threat and place substantially more people and property at risk than in preceding decades. More than 25 million acres of California wildlands are classified as under very high or extreme fire threat, extending that risk to over one-half of the state.

(b) Certain populations in our state are particularly vulnerable to wildfire threats. These Californians live in communities that face near-term public safety threats given their location. Some residents in these areas are made further vulnerable due to factors such as age and lack of mobility. The tragic loss of life and property in the Town of Paradise during the 2018 Camp Fire demonstrates such vulnerability.

(c) While California has stringent building standards for new construction and requirements for the maintenance of defensible space in wildfire hazard areas, California must develop statewide options to encourage cost-effective structure hardening to create fire resistant homes, businesses, and public buildings within wildfire hazard areas and with a focus on vulnerable communities.

(d) It is the intent of the Legislature to offer financial assistance through a statewide program to communities for all hazards in support of a comprehensive mitigation strategy and reduce or eliminate potential risks and impacts of disasters in order to promote faster recovery after disasters and, overall, a more resilient state.

(e) It is further the intent of the Legislature to develop a comprehensive financial assistance program to help property owners, whole communities, and local governments retrofit existing housing, commercial, and public properties in wildfire hazard areas to a cost-effective standard that provides comprehensive risk reduction to protect structures from fires spreading from adjacent structures or vegetation, and to prevent vegetation from spreading fires to adjacent structures.

(f) It is further the intent of the Legislature to fund home hardening, through state or federal funding mechanisms, to expand the California Wildfire Mitigation Financial Assistance Program to the top 7th to 10th ranked counties, inclusive, additional counties with the greatest combined risk of wildfire and social vulnerability based on the eligibility criteria developed pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 8654.8, dated January 29, 2025, or an updated successor ranking.

SEC. 3.

Section 8654.7 of the Government Code is amended to read:

8654.7.

(a) The joint powers authority may accept any federal funds granted, by act of Congress or by executive order, for all or any of the purposes of this article.

(b) The joint powers authority shall develop criteria and a scoring methodology to prioritize financial assistance provided under the wildfire mitigation program to areas and communities based upon criteria that include, but are not limited to, all of the following:

(1) Area and community vulnerability to wildfire.

(2) The impact of future climate risk factors on area and community wildfire vulnerability assessments.

(3) Factors that lead some populations to experience a greater risk to wildfire, adverse health outcomes, or an inhibited ability to respond to a wildfire, including socioeconomic characteristics of the areas or communities that would be protected by financial assistance. For purposes of this paragraph “relevant socioeconomic characteristics” may include, among other things, data on poverty levels, residents with disabilities, language barriers, residents over 65 or under 5 years of age, and households without a car.

(c) Subdivision (b) applies to all financial assistance provided under the wildfire mitigation program unless the joint powers authority determines that all, or a portion of, subdivision (b) should not apply to an award of federal funds on the basis of terms and conditions imposed by the federal government on that award of federal funds.

(d) Federal funding received to implement this article that is not liquidated by July 1, 2029, shall be reverted to the joint powers authority for the purpose of funding home hardening in the top seventh through tenth ranked counties, inclusive, counties with the greatest combined risk of wildfire and social vulnerability based on the eligibility criteria developed pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 8654.8, dated January 29, 2025, or an updated successor ranking.

SEC. 4.

Section 8654.8 of the Government Code is amended to read:

8654.8.

(a) The joint powers authority shall develop eligibility criteria for property owners, community organizations, and local governments who may receive financial assistance under the wildfire mitigation program in accordance with this article.

(b) Upon an appropriation by the Legislature for this purpose or the receipt of additional federal funding, the joint powers authority shall provide financial assistance under the wildfire mitigation program to the 7th to 10th ranked counties, inclusive, counties with the greatest combined risk of wildfire and social vulnerability based on the eligibility criteria developed pursuant to subdivision (a), dated January 29, 2025, or an updated successor ranking.

(c) The joint powers authority may also establish financial assistance limits and matching funding or other recipient contribution requirements, as necessary, to ensure the viability and efficient operation of the wildfire mitigation program and to maximize the program’s impact on reducing wildfire risk in California. California, consistent with paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 8654.4 of the Government Code.

SEC. 5.

Section 8654.10 of the Government Code is amended to read:

8654.10.

(a) The operation of this article is contingent upon an appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act or another statute for purposes of this article.

(b) No later than July 1, 2028, the joint powers authority shall submit a report to the Legislature, in compliance with Section 9795, regarding the implementation of the wildfire mitigation financial assistance program administered pursuant to this article. The report shall include, but is not limited to, all of the following:

(1) An evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of the wildfire mitigation program compared to other structure hardening, defensible space, vegetation management, and fuel reduction incentive programs.

(2) An evaluation of the overall wildfire risk reduction achieved statewide through awards of financial assistance under the wildfire mitigation program.

(3) Detailed information about the quantity, monetary value, geographic distribution, and categories of awards of financial assistance made under the wildfire mitigation program.

(4) Detailed information about the sources and amounts of funds appropriated or granted to the wildfire mitigation program.

(5) Detailed information about barriers encountered to completing work awarded financial assistance under the wildfire mitigation program, including state, regional, or local permitting requirements.

(6) Any other information the Office of Emergency Services determines is necessary or convenient to evaluate the financial assistance awarded under the program.

(7) An evaluation of the amount of additional funding that would be required to expand the wildfire mitigation program to the 7th to 10th ranked counties, inclusive, counties with the greatest combined risk of wildfire and social vulnerability based on the eligibility criteria developed pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 8654.8, dated January 29, 2025.

(c) This article shall remain in effect only until July 1, 2029, and as of that date is repealed.