Disasters

Disaster Relief Legislation

Disaster Relief Legislation

SB 2 (Speier-D) Homeowners' insurance

Requires the curriculum committee to make recommendations to instruct broker-agents in proper methods of estimating the replacement value of structures. Requires insurers to extend the additional living expense timeframe to 24 months after a declared state of emergency, and makes permanent the mediation program.

Double-joints with SB 518 (Kehoe-D).

Chapter 447, Statutes of 2005

SB 50* (Campbell-R) Tsunami victims: income/corporation tax deduction

Allows any cash charitable contribution made in January 2005, for the relief of victims in areas affected by the December 20, 2004, Indian Ocean tsunami to be treated as if made during the 2004 taxable year.

Chapter 5, Statutes of 2004

SB 94* (Migden-D) Claims against the state: levee breaks

Appropriates $45 million from the General Fund to fund a settlement, McMahon v. State of California, involving some 680 plaintiffs who sued the state for charges caused by levee breaks along the Feather River in 1997.

Chapter 11, Statutes of 2005

SB 457* (Kehoe-D) Disaster relief: Orange/Riverside/San Bernardino/San Diego

Adds the severe rainstorms, floods, mudslides, and other events that occurred in the counties of Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego during December 2004, January 2005, February 2005, March 2005, and June 2005, to the list of disasters eligible for full state reimbursement of local property tax losses, full state reimbursement of local agency costs under the Disaster Assistance Act, and favorable net operating loss carry forward treatment.

Double-joints with AB 18 (La Malfa-R) and AB 164 (Nava-D).

Chapter 622, Statutes of 2005

SB 477 (Soto-D) Emergency services: recovery process

Authorizes the Governor's Office of Emergency Services to establish a process that will be made available to assist a community in recovering from an emergency proclaimed by the Governor.

Chapter 377, Statutes of 2005

SB 518 (Kehoe-D) Homeowners' insurance

Requires insurers to provide policyholders with a copy of their insurance policy within 30 calendar days from the policyholder's request, requires insurers to extend the additional living expense timeframe to 24 months after a declared state of emergency and makes various changes to the statutes governing insurance adjusters.

Double-joints with SB 2 (Speier-D).

Chapter 448, Statutes of 2005

SB 546 (Dutton-R) Emergency services: public-private partnerships

Authorizes the Office of Emergency Services to partner with private sector interests to integrate private sector and governmental emergency preparedness efforts. Creates the Disaster Resistant Communities Account in the General Fund into which private donations may be deposited.

Chapter 232, Statutes of 2005

SB 955 (Soto-D) Public safety: firefighting

Requires the Office of Emergency Services (OES) to purchase 150 additional multiple discipline response engines to be used to respond to terrorist acts, fires, floods, earthquakes, or other disasters, and assign them to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and local agencies, as specified. Appropriates $25 million to OES from the Federal Trust Fund from previously unallocated funds, as specified.

(In Senate Appropriations Committee)

SB 1102 (Hollingsworth-R) Office of Emergency Services

Extends the operative date of the Disaster Response-Emergency Operations Account in the Special Fund for Economic Uncertainties from January 1, 2006, to July 1, 2007.

Chapter 561, Statutes of 2005

SCR 29 (Kehoe-D) Emergency services and homeland security

Creates the Joint Legislative Committee on Emergency Services and Homeland Security, with a specified membership of each house of the Legislature. The joint committee will be constituted as an investigating committee of the houses, and its powers to include making recommendations as to legislation and forming a technical advisory committee to assist it in carrying out its duties. Sunsets on November 30, 2006.

Resolution Chapter 106, Statutes of 2005

AB 18* (La Malfa-R) Disaster relief: Shasta County

Includes the Shasta County wildfires that began on August 11, 2004, as disasters eligible for state reimbursement of local property tax losses, beneficial homeowners' exemption treatment, and favorable net operating loss carryforward treatment.

Double-joints with AB 164 (Nava-D) and SB 457 (Kehoe-D).

Chapter 624, Statutes of 2005

AB 164* (Nava-D) Disaster relief: Kern/Los Angeles/Santa Barbara/Ventura

Provides assistance and income tax relief for losses related to declared disasters that occurred in Southern California during December 2004, January 2005, February 2005, March 2005, in the counties of Kern, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and Ventura.

Double-joints with AB 18 (La Malfa-R) and SB 457 (Kehoe-D).

Chapter 623, Statutes of 2005

AB 260 (Bermudez-D) Fire response time reports

Requires the State Fire Marshal (SFM), in consultation with the Board of Fire Services, to adopt revised reporting regulations and to require statistical reporting information submitted to the SFM after January 1, 2007, to be compatible with the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) established by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and include data specified in the Apparatus or Resources module (NFIRS-9) and the Personnel module (NFIRS-10).

(In Assembly Appropriations Committee)

AB 287 (Negrete McLeod-D) Rapid Disaster Response Act of 2005

Enacts the "Rapid Disaster Response Act of 2005" to augment state funds with federal funds, to replace Department of Forestry and Fire Protection's aging helicopter fleet.

Chapter 290, Statutes of 2005

AB 586 (Negrete McLeod-D) Medical disaster mobilization

Authorizes the designation of a Medical/Health Operational Area Coordinator in each county to be the point of contact for regional disaster medical/health coordinators and others in the event of a local, state, or federal emergency. Identifies functions that should be included in a medical and health disaster system and requires by June 30, 2006, the Department of Health Services and the Emergency Medical Services Authority to adopt disaster medical and health preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation regulations and guidelines.

(In Senate Health Committee)

AB 823* (Nava-D) Disaster response

Enacts a modified version of the Emergency Management Assistance Compact that has been adopted by other states and ratified by Congress, until January 1, 2008.

Chapter 233, Statutes of 2005

A similar bill is AB 1405 (Evans-D) which is on the Senate Inactive File.

AB 873 (Bogh-R) Homeowners' insurance

Requires an insurer to provide an insured with a copy of his/her homeowners' insurance policy within 30 days of receiving a request from the insured, or when a state of emergency has been declared by the Governor or President.

Chapter 397, Statutes of 2005

AB 1200 (Laird-D) Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta

Requires the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to evaluate the potential impacts on water supplies derived from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta resulting from subsidence, earthquakes, floods, changes in precipitation, temperature, and ocean levels, and a combination of those impacts. Requires DWR and the Department of Fish and Game to evaluate and rate the options for addressing the risks of levee failure, during their current comprehensive study of Delta levees.

Chapter 573, Statutes of 2005

AB 1646* (Assembly Higher Education Committee) Katrina disaster victims: community college districts

Allows the California Community College districts to waive fees for Hurricane Katrina victims.

Chapter 654, Statutes of 2005

AB 1665* (Laird-D) Flood control

Requires the Department of Water Resources, on or before March 31, 2006, to prepare a schedule for mapping areas at risk of flooding in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers drainage, and thereafter, to update the schedule annually. Requires the Central Valley Flood Control Board to prepare and submit to the Legislature one or more reports describing the history and engineering design of the facilities of the state plan of flood control, as specified.

(In Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee)

ACR 86 (Parra-D) Emergency assistance

Urges all Californians to participate in the In Case of Emergency campaign by entering an emergency contact number into their cell phone memory in order to assist medical and emergency personnel.

Resolution Chapter 137, Statutes of 2005

ACR 94 (Houston-R) Hurricane Katrina relief

Encourages Californians to aid those affected by Hurricane Katrina.

(Unassigned to a committee)

ACR 95 (Ridley-Thomas-D) State aid for Hurricane Katrina

Calls on the Governor and state agencies to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina and calls on the State to review its preparedness for a disaster.

(Unassigned to a committee)

ACR 96 (Saldana-D) Hurricane Katrina: nurses

Urges hospitals and corporate health care employers to support registered nurses (RNs) who volunteer services as a result of Hurricane Katrina and any future disaster relief effort, and to assure RNs that they will return to their original employment position without loss of benefits and without penalty.

(On Assembly Third Reading File)

AJR 38 (Ridley-Thomas-D) Federal aid for Hurricane Katrina

Calls upon the Congress and the President of the United States to reconsider the removal of disaster preparedness functions from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and to reevaluate the National Response Plan, in terms of its applicability to populations who do not have the necessary means to evacuate areas of vulnerability.

(In Assembly Rules Committee)

HR 4 (Dymally-D) Asian tsunami disaster

Urges the Governor and appropriates state agency personnel to review and report the state of advance warning and preparedness of the State of California and its resources in light of lessons being learned from the Asian tsunami disaster. Requests the Governor to consider making available skilled state personnel to assist through intergovernmental activities being implemented by the federal government.

Adopted by the Assembly

HR 23 (Frommer-D) Hurricane Katrina

Calls upon the Governor to answer Texas Governor Rick Perry's plea to shoulder more of the burden in housing the thousands of evacuees of Hurricane Katrina.

(Unassigned to a committee)

HR 24 (Nava-D) Hurricane Katrina

Resolves that the Office of Emergency Services (OES) conduct a review and report to the Legislature California's disaster preparedness, prevention and recovery, that the Franchise Tax Board evaluate the possibility of tax credits to California families who take in persons displaced as a result of Hurricane Katrina, that the OES coordinate with California's mayors to house evacuees and coordinate the assistance to the Gulf Coast region, that the Governor issue an Executive Order allowing state agencies to provide assistance to the hurricane victims, and encourages California employers to provide flexibility to employees with critical training or technical skills that respond to the disaster without loss of benefits or employment.

Adopted by the Assembly

Index (in Bill Order)