California will spend $2.5 billion to help the Los Angeles area recover from wildfires
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California will spend $2.5 billion to help the Los Angeles area recover from recent deadly wildfires under a relief package approved Thursday by state lawmakers.
Both Democrats and Republicans supported the bills, and Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to sign the package later Thursday. The proposals include $2.5 billion for the state's emergency disaster response efforts such as evacuations, sheltering survivors and removing household hazardous waste. Lawmakers also approved $4 million for local governments to streamline approvals for rebuilding homes, and $1 million to support school districts and help them rebuild facilities.
“We need to be able to move with urgency, put aside our differences and be laser-focused on delivering the financial resources, delivering the boots on the ground that are needed and the policy relief that is needed to get neighborhoods cleaned up and communities rebuilt,” said Mike McGuire, a Democrat and president pro tempore of the state Senate.
The aid won approval a day before President Donald Trump is set to visit California for a look at damage from the blazes. He's suggested any federal wildfire relief should come with conditions, though congressional Republicans who represent the state have pushed back on that idea. Former President Joe Biden already approved some disaster aid for the region earlier this month.
Newsom called lawmakers into a special session in November to prepare for legal battles against Trump ’s administration. But after major fires broke out around Los Angeles, Newsom shifted gears to prioritize fire relief funding. He expanded the focus of the special session to pass the recovery funding under pressure from Republican state lawmakers who said the focus on Trump was misplaced while the state dealt with the disaster.
Republican state Sen. Kelly Seyarto criticized Newsom for not issuing the fire relief funding on his own, but ultimately Seyarto supported the proposals.
He said in the future, Democrats should do a better job of working with Republicans on crafting legislation for fire response and prevention funding.
“We need a plan from all of us to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” he said.
The state Senate also approved $25 million Thursday to defend the state against legal challenges by the federal government, along with another $25 million in part for legal groups to defend immigrants facing possible deportation and other threats. The vote fell largely along party lines. The state Assembly would still have to pass the bills before before they can reach Newsom's desk.
The largest of the recent Southern California blazes ignited on Jan. 7, ripping through the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in Los Angeles and killing 11 people. The Eaton Fire, which broke out the same day near Altadena, has killed 17 people.
The region is also now battling the Hughes Fire, which ignited Wednesday north of Los Angeles, spread more than 15 square miles (39 square kilometers) and led to evacuation orders or warnings for more than 50,000 people.
Newsom's administration said the state expects to be reimbursed by the federal government for the disaster relief funding.
The governor also announced a commitment Thursday by 270 state-chartered banks, credit unions and lenders to provide mortgage relief to homeowners impacted by fires in Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, a Democrat from Encino and chair of the chamber’s special session budget committee, said his family was ordered to evacuate for six days while firefighters battled the Palisades Fire.
The funding the Legislature passed Thursday is “the first of many steps” lawmakers will take to support wildfire survivors and to protect communities from the threat of future blazes, he said.
“No community is immune from these wildfires,” Gabriel said. “That’s part of what the tragedy in Los Angeles proved to us.”
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Austin is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Austin on X: @ sophieadanna
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