Today, Senate Republicans announced a critical legislative package aimed to increase California’s readiness for future wildfire events and to spur recovery in areas affected by the Los Angeles fire catastrophe.
“I’m proud of the Senate’s bipartisan approach to addressing issues within our state’s wildfire management, response and recovery apparatus,” said Senate Minority Leader Brian W. Jones (R-San Diego) who, along with Senate Pro Tempore Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg), held a press conference Tuesday announcing the introduction of a bill to increase the number of firefighters employed in the state. “There is neither room nor time to play politics with this emergent situation. While this bill represents a good start, Republicans remain committed to tackling this issue from every angle.”
Senate Republicans have introduced a list of bills to address water storage and transport, community hardening, rebuilding efforts under the California Environmental Quality Act, environmental restrictions in the wake of fire events, and fire-related crime.
“It’s our responsibility as lawmakers to ensure that our first responders have the necessary resources to respond to even the most challenging incidents,” said Sen. Kelly Seyarto (R-Murrieta). “As a former firefighter, I know first-hand what our firefighters are faced with battling these wildfires. We must be much more proactive in strengthening our response, improving our prevention efforts, and helping people recover from these catastrophic incidents.”
While Senate Republicans are encouraged by the initial bipartisan nature of the Senate’s response to the Los Angeles wildfires thus far, they remain wary of potential partisan pitfalls for this critical legislation as the plethora of past efforts have largely been blocked by legislative Democrats and the governor in years past. Last month, Senate Republicans recently released a list of legislative fixes that could have helped in the current situation but were unable to gain approval of the majority party.
“We need firefighters ready to respond, adequate water to fight the flames, a streamlined process for rebuilding, and we must keep impacted communities safe from criminals who would prey on them in their time of need," said Sen. Suzette Martinez Valladares (R-Santa Clarita), whose 23rd Senate District saw the evacuation of 50,000 people during the recent Los Angeles fire emergency. "Sadly, the current system has failed to deliver on these basic needs, and it’s clear we must make immediate changes to better protect all Californians."
Wildfire bills introduced by Senate Republicans thus far in 2025 include:
Senate Bill 223 (Alvarado-Gil): Requires the state to build and maintain a statewide integrated wildfire smoke and health data platform that would integrate wildfire smoke and health data from multiple databases.
Senate Bill 268 (Choi): Excludes from taxable income, settlement payments made in connection with any declared state of emergency made by the Governor.
Senate Bill 269 (Choi): Provides a tax credit to homeowners who perform qualified home hardening and/or vegetation management on their properties.
Senate Bill 87 (Seyarto): Extends the sales tax exemption on fundraising activities for all-volunteer fire departments.
Senate Bill 90 (Seyarto): Allows the use of Prop 4 funding to support prepositioned mobile rigid water storage and mobile rigid dip tanks as eligible activities for improving public safety. By strategically positioning these tanks in high-risk wildfire areas, California firefighters can reduce helicopter response times and enhance the effectiveness of fire engines and helicopters while making critical improvements to public evacuation routes on specified lands.
Senate Bill 264 (Valladares): Allows prosecutors to charge those who impersonate a police officer or firefighter during a state of emergency, with a felony.
Senate Bill 265 (Valladares): Classifies burglary committed during a state of emergency – such as during or after a wildfire – as a felony offense.
Senate Bill 252 (Valladares): Exempts power line infrastructure from the CEQA requirements for undergrounding lines, allowing for expedited completion on projects to move power lines underground.