California allocates billions of dollars in fire recovery aid to Los Angeles

Read this story at English

As recovery efforts begin in the Palisades and Eaton fires, the California Legislature on Thursday approved a set of bills to expedite $2.5 billion in “bridge funding” aimed at helping state and local agencies respond to firefighting efforts. help.

The bills passed unanimously in both the Assembly and Senate as part of an extended special session called by Gov. Gavin News in response to wildfires in the Los Angeles area. Newsom is expected to approve the bills quickly and release the money immediately.

The legal projects are part of “a much broader conversation that we’re going to have to have about rebuilding and rebuilding in these devastated communities and how to protect communities across the state of California,” said Jesse Gabriel, chairman of the Assembly Budget Committee and one of the few lawmakers living in neighborhoods that were evacuated. “This is the first of many steps we will take on a long road as we move forward in this conversation.”

The Two Fires – The Bigger than the recent wave in Southern Californiawhich totaled almost 40,000 acres – killed 27 people, destroyed 12,000 structures and displaced tens of thousands of people. The initial estimate of the total damage is more than 250 million dollarsaccording to Accuweather.

The funding adds to other relief initiatives by the state and federal government, such as extending tax filing deadlines and imposing a moratorium on evictions.

The money will come from the State’s Economic Uncertainty Reserve Fund, which had about $8.3 billion as of Jan. 10, according to HD Palmer, a spokesman for the California Department of Finance.

Former President Joe Biden said on January 12 that the federal government will reimburse 100 percent of government funds that are spent within 180 days. State officials expect $2.5 billion to be reimbursed, even as President Donald Trump repeated his threats Wednesday to keep federal aid.

“I don’t think we should give up California until they let the water flow,” he said in Fox News interviewrepeating a False claim that the state did not allow water to flow from Northern California for wildfires.

The funding package includes $2.5 billion to be used by state and local agencies for a variety of recovery efforts: evacuee shelters, hazardous waste removal, air quality testing and to fund post-fire hazard safety testing , such as landslides.

The bills also include $4 million for the Department of Housing and Community Development to help local governments expedite building permits, $1 million for school districts to facilitate redevelopment, $250,000 for the state architect’s department and $750,000 dollars for the Office of Public School Construction.

Lawmakers stressed in Wednesday’s hearings that the state should require detailed oversight of how the money is spent and that the neediest should be prioritized, including Altadena’s historically black community.

“I am deeply concerned about vulnerable communities: those on fixed incomes, those who have lost their jobs in addition to losing their homes, those who will not be able to protect themselves or expect a huge payment because they are simply tenants,” said Sen. Aisha Wahab, D-Fremont.

Another wildfire broke out near Southern California’s Castaic Lake as lawmakers debated the package this week, underscoring lawmakers’ comments that the Legislature should also prioritize prevention. A One billion dollar bonus Approved by voters in November to fight climate change, it includes funds for some wildfire prevention programs. The bonus money cannot be used for recovery efforts, finance department officials said at the hearing.

Heath Floraa Ripon Republican and vice chairman of the budget committee, recommended that the Legislature take up two wildfire prevention and emergency management bills introduced by Democratic Assembly members that he had previously vetoed: One would fully staff the fire department of the state throughout the year, not during the nine-month fire season and another would expedite vegetation management permits.

Lawmakers have proposed several others Bills related to wildfires in this session.

“As our president said, we still have a lot to do,” Flora said. “And they are not problems that have arisen in the last ten days; We have literally known them since 2004. It’s time to do some things, and I think we now have the motivation and the ability to do it. “

Stella Yu contributed to the development of this report.

This article was originally published by Calmatters.