CA Legislative Republicans Get Their Special Session on Wildfires, Water and Insurance

California Legislative Republicans held a press conference calling for immediate action to ramp up California’s wildfire prevention efforts, stabilize the state’s insurance market and investigate why there was no water in fire hydrants in the Pacific Palisades fires.

Numerous companies in California’s insurance industry announced last year they were leaving the state or would not write any new homeowners or fire insurance policies. Because of this, many homeowners have been unable to find insurance coverage on the private market or had to turn to California’s insurer of last resort, the FAIR Plan, which is dangerously underfunded, and will not be able to cover the claims from the current fires.

Yet while the devastation from the fires and loss of life has played out in real time since last week, Governor Gavin Newsom and legislative Democrats upped the ante on their special legislative session to “Trump Proof” California against incoming President Donald Trump from $25 million to cover legal expenses, to now spend $50 million before the president-elect even takes office.

As I write this, Assemblyman Bill Essayli announced that following his letter (below) to Governor Gavin Newsom last Wednesday, the Governor called for a Special Legislative Session addressing wildfires amid historic wildfires spreading across Los Angeles.

The Globe reported on Essayli’s letter requesting a special session – it’s a very good start. “Instead of ‘Trump-Proofing’ California, Newsom needs to FIREPROOF our state! Enough is enough,” Essayli said.

Today, Assemblyman Bill Essayli announced:

“The Governor’s proclamation today addressing the ongoing wildfire disaster with a special session is a victory for common sense in California. When the Governor received my letter calling on him to convene a special session on wildfires, he dismissed it as political stunt. Now the People have spoken and made it clear we’re fed up with his politics and obsession with ‘Trump-proofing’ California when we need to be fireproofing it. I will fight for both funding and substantive reforms to reverse the policies that brought historic devastation from these predictable, preventable wildfires.”

Senate Republican Leader Brian Jones was glad for the special session however, he pointed out that it is lumped in with the Governor’s “Trump-Proof” CA special session.

“However, lumping this emergency response together with a politically motivated special session to sue Trump is unnecessary and, frankly, insulting to those struggling through this disaster. Fire victims deserve a response that is both respectful and non-partisan, but instead, Newsom is politicizing a tragic crisis that should focus solely on aiding those in need. Sadly, these special session bills will likely include inappropriate provisions targeting the incoming federal administration alongside vital disaster relief for Californians.

“A better and more thoughtful approach would have been to convene a new special session exclusively dedicated to investigating the LA fires, supporting communities in recovery, and ensuring we are better prepared for future disasters.

Fireproof California Press Conference

Ahead of the press conference, Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher said:

“At a time when California should be laser focused on responding to the devastating wildfires in LA, Democrat lawmakers’ priority is creating a $50 million slush fund to hire government lawyers for hypothetical fights against the federal government and to defend criminal illegal immigrants from being returned to their home countries. The disconnect between what Californians need and what Democrats are focused on is astounding.”

California voters passed Proposition 103 in 1988 allowing the Insurance Commissioner to approve rate increase requests from insurers before they are implemented, former State Senator Ted Gaines reported for the Globe. “Rate increase applications are languishing in the Department of Insurance (DOI) for up to two years. Instead of losing money while waiting for rate increases, insurers are pulling out of the state with astonishing speed. It’s likely that everyone reading this knows someone who has been non-renewed by an insurer and unable to find the needed fire insurance required by lenders.”

Assembly Republican leader Gallagher, Senator Shannon Grove, and Assembly members Greg Wallis, David Tangipa, Laura Davies, Heath Flora, Leticia Castillo, Jeff Gonzalez, Tom Lackey, Bill Essayli, Carl DeMaio, Kate Sanchez, Trin Ta, and Diane Dixon, held a press conference Monday to Fireproof California.

Senator Grove named the long list of insurance companies which have left the state or are not writing homeowners policies any longer. KTVU Fox2 has the list as well.

Assemblywoman Leticia Castillo called for Governor Newsom to resign if he does not call a special session immediately (she got her wish).

Assemblyman Heath Flora, who worked for years in firefighting, said in Fire Science, oxygen, ignition and fuel are what feed a fire. If we remove the fuel – the tinder – there is no fire.

All lawmakers agreed that the state’s labyrinth of environmental regulations need to be reviewed because the law(s) prevent building and re-building. And layers of permitting often prevent important projects from getting off the ground.

Assemblyman Carl DeMaio said the state makes $3.6 billion off of a tax on insurance premiums. What is the governor doing with that $3.6 Billion?

DeMaio wrote and sent a letter to President-Elect Donald Trump “requesting a full federal investigation into state and local California politicians for gross negligence in their handling of LA fires.”

“Californias regulations prohibit proper brush management,” he said. “State and local officials fail to maintain public lands.”

The empty Santa Ynez reservoir; the insurance crisis; utilities failed to shut off even after the fires.

Here are the details in DeMaio’s letter:

“Why were we not better prepared?” DeMaio asked. He told the media they need to be asking the same question.

As the Globe recently reported again, California voters approved $7.12 billion in bonds in 2014 for state water supply infrastructure projects. Of that, $2.7 billion was designated for water storage projects. But more than 10 years later, there are no new dams or reservoirs, or other water storage projects to collect and store California’s winter runoff, which instead we send 80% of California’s water to the ocean in unimpaired flows for “environmental” purposes, resulting in entire Central Valley towns without water, farms drying up, and threats of rationing to urban water users.

“Time is of the essence,” Assemblyman David Tangipa said. He’s the Vice Chairman of the Assembly Insurance Committee. “If this can happen in January in Los Angeles, it can happen everywhere.”

“We must handle the risk – thinning, fire breaks, look at the map to see where the exposures are. And cut the red tape for victims… This was preventable… they have the data.”

Assembly Republican Leader Gallagher said he was contacted by House Speaker Mike Johnson over the weekend. “Historically the federal government, and especially the Trump administration, came through every time” after California fires. “But we can’t just talk about relief without changes to make communities in California safer.”