Newsom signs laws requiring wildfire smoke cleanup coverage, expanding mortgage relief

Gov, Gavin Newsom signed four bills into law Tuesday aimed at helping wildfire survivors get their homes cleaned up, secure insurance coverage for smoke damage and obtain mortgage relief.

The package includes new standards for testing and cleaning up wildfire contamination, requirements for insurers to cover qualifying smoke-damage testing and remediation, and mortgage protections for disaster survivors. Newsom signed the bills in Altadena, surrounded by survivors of the Eaton and Palisades fires.

“These new protections will make insurer obligations clearer and give homeowners more financial flexibility when they need it most,” Newsom said. “As fire seasons across the West become a year-round reality, California’s commitment to recovery must be just as enduring.”

For Jane Lawton Potelle, executive director of Eaton Fire Residents United and owner of a standing home in the Eaton fire impact zone, the protections grew directly out of survivors’ experiences and advocacy. Potelle has yet to return to her home.

Her group sponsored AB 1642, authored by Assemblymember John Harabedian, D-Pasadena, which directs state agencies to develop science-based standards for testing and addressing wildfire contamination and clearing residential properties for occupancy. The law also calls for guidance for schools affected by wildfires.

“Going forward, the question of whether a family can safely return home should be answered by science, not by an insurance company’s guesswork,” Harabedian said. “Families should not have to fight for the testing they need or be left trying to figure out on their own whether their homes are safe.”

AB 1642 takes effect Jan. 1, although the state’s new standards and guidance will be developed later.

“Families deserve science-based answers about whether their homes and their schools are safe, and until today no state in the nation had any to give them,” Potelle said. “That changes now. Here is what we want every family to hear: if your home was left standing in or near the burn scar, test it for lead and asbestos. Contamination is not something you can see, and it does not stop at the edge of the burn area.”

The new standards will also protect renters.

“Under SB 610 authored by Sen. Sasha Renee Perez, landlords are responsible for remediating disaster contamination, and AB 1642 now gives them the standard they have to meet,” Potelle said.

The legislation directs the Department of Toxic Substances Control and the California Air Resources Board to develop protections for testing, remediation and restoration of lead and asbestos contamination from wildfire smoke.

Assemblymember Mike A. Gipson, D-Carson, authored AB 1642’s companion bill, AB 1795, which will require insurance companies to pay for qualifying lead and asbestos testing and remediation in smoke-damaged homes, cover full cleanup and restoration to pre-loss condition, and prevent insurers from ending additional living expense coverage until a home is safe to occupy.

“Insurers, not survivors, must bear the responsibility of proving that a home is safe,” Gipson said.

Harabedian also authored the two mortgage relief bills, AB 1842 and AB 1847. One extends the Mortgage Relief Act for a year for Eaton and Palisades fire survivors; the other establishes ongoing forbearance protections for homeowners affected by future major disasters.

The protections allow qualifying homeowners to pause mortgage payments temporarily without late fees, penalties or foreclosure risk, and include safeguards for credit reporting, Harabedian said.

Newsom said the new laws, coupled with the CalAssist Mortgage Fund, give homeowners more breathing room as they continue to pay a mortgage on a home they can’t live in or that no longer exists. The mortgage fund provides survivors with up to 12 months and $100,000 in mortgage relief that never has to be repaid. The recently appropriated $100 million Disaster Rebuilding Fund will also make rebuilding loans more affordable, Newsom administration officials said.

Maggie Cortez, 46, owner of El Patrón in Altadena, told Newsom about the stress she carries as she deals with two insurance companies: one for her 16-year-old business on Lake Avenue and another for her standing residence about two miles away, home to her three children, two grandchildren, two dogs, one cat and her son’s turtle.

“I thought the insurance will help everyone, and it’s like we have to fight with them to help us,” Cortez said. “I have a lot of faith, but I am getting tired. I am struggling. All the businesses need help.”

The bills come 20 months after the Eaton fire, the second-most destructive wildfire in California history, killed at least 19 people and destroyed more than 9,000 structures.

L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who attended the signing, called it meaningful progress.

“But we must collectively remember that Eaton Fire survivors will need sustained support and accountability for years to come,” she said in a statement.