Blogs

By: Ophelia Szigeti, CSDA Legislative Analyst

In response to the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, which destroyed more than 12,000 structures, Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB X1-4 and SB X1-3. These special session bills allocate up to $2.5 billion in emergency funding to support Southern California's recovery efforts. 

The funding will be distributed to various departments and agencies, pending approval from the Department of Finance. These funds will be used in accordance with the Disaster Response-Emergency Operations Account to aid communities affected by the wildfires and declared state of emergency areas as designated by the Governor in January 2025.

Key Areas of Support

Some key areas the emergency funding will be directed towards include:

• Emergency protective measures
• Evacuations and temporary shelters for survivors
• Household hazardous waste removal
• Post-fire hazard mitigation, including flood and debris flow prevention
• Traffic control and public safety efforts
• Environmental assessments, including air and water quality testing
• Other critical recovery efforts to protect lives and property

Fund Disbursement & Oversight

With the scale of destruction and ongoing recovery needs, the legislature anticipates revisiting disaster funding before the end of the 2024-25 fiscal year. Additionally, disaster recovery will be a major component of the 2025-26 state budget. The bill includes expenditure reporting requirements to track fund usage and inform future funding decisions. Governor Newsom continues to lobby in Washington for partial or full reimbursement by the federal government. 

Other Recent Efforts

On February 4, Senate President pro Tempore Mike McGuire announced The Fight for Firefighters Act seeking $175-185 million per year for CalFire support, including:

• Phase out of seasonal CalFire firefighters, who work nine months out the year, to transition to full-time status.
• All 356 CalFire fire engines would be fully operational year-round. 
• All of CalFire’s 38 vegetation management crews would be fully operational year-round.
• CalFire helicopter bases fully staffed year-round.

State Senators also planned to visit impacted areas during the week of February 2.

CSDA is in the process of seeking data from special districts in the impacted areas to determine current and ongoing financial and other impacts. CSDA will continue to monitor additional legislative and budget responses to the Los Angeles wildfires.