New California Laws Increase Protections and Insurability Against Wildfires
California enacted new laws that expand relief and protections for homeowners in Los Angeles-area communities affected by severe wildfires.
The bipartisan bills, which were signed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier in October, reform disaster response, support rebuilding homes destroyed by wildfires, allow displaced residents to live in temporary homes on their own property while their permanent home is being rebuilt, and provide tax relief for survivors of a wildfire.
AB 238. The law orders mortgage lenders to help borrowers who are “experiencing financial hardship due to the Los Angeles firestorms by offering mortgage forbearance for up to 12 months,” according to a press release from the governor’s office.
AB 245. The newly enacted legislation gives wildfire survivors more time to rebuild homes or businesses without being subjected to property tax increases.
AB 299 and SB 610. These laws expand protections for residents displaced by a natural disaster. AB 299 delays identifying disaster-displaced people as tenants if they are staying for a long period of time (up to 269 consecutive days) in a hotel, motel, or short-term rental. The delay allows those people to extend a reservation.
Meanwhile, SB 610 gives renters and mobile-home owners the ability to retain return rights at pre-disaster rent levels and orders landlords to remove dangerous debris.
AB 338. This legislation directs critical funding to rebuilding and recovering areas impacted by wildfires, specifically by investing in workforce development for people who are underemployed and unemployed in low- to moderate-income positions.
AB 462, AB 818, SB 625, and SB 676. These laws expedite rebuilding efforts, including accelerating local permitting for rebuilding homes, ordering certain zoning boards to provide a decision on coastal permits for accessory dwelling units (such as in-law suites or detached cottages) within 60 days, allowing residents to place temporary housing on their property during reconstruction, and curbing homeowners’ associations’ power to delay or block rebuilding over design disagreements.
AB 468 and SB 571. Thes new laws increase the penalties for looting in an evacuation zone, and AB 468 expands the definition of looting in relation to evacuation zones. SB 571 created a new crime: fraudulent impersonation of a first responder to access evacuation zones, especially for the goal of looting.
AB 888 and SB 429. The new law creates the California Safe Homes grant program to help decrease the risk of devastating wildfires. The grant provides funding for installing fire-safe roofs for low-income homeowners, along with providing funding for defensible space vegetation clearing projects—removing, reducing, or managing vegetation within a 5-foot radius around a home or structure. The program offers funding to eligible individuals, cities, counties, and special districts with the goal of improving the insurability of communities in areas that face an increased risk of wildfires.
SB 429 established the Wildfire Safety and Risk Mitigation Program within California’s Department of Insurance. The program will fund universities that create a research educational center devoted to providing wildfire safety benefits to California communities.
SB 495 and SB 547. SB 495 requires insurers to offer 60 percent of the personal property policy coverage limit (up to $350,000) for policyholders without an itemized claim when a home is considered a total loss due to a disaster. The SB 547 bars insurers from canceling or denying renewal of an insurance policy to a commercial property (within the perimeter of a wildfire or adjacent area) for one year from the declaration of a state of emergency.
SB 653. Previously, the state’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection helped local governments with fire prevention and vegetation management expertise. This bill amended California’s Public Resources Code so that vegetation management efforts also support environmentally sensitive vegetation management projects, protecting an area’s ecological health and biodiversity.
Eaton and Palisades wildfires. Many of the new laws were spurred forward after major wildfires in January 2025—the Eaton and Palisades fires—resulted in the deaths of more than 30 people and the loss of thousands of homes in Altadena, Malibu, and the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles. These communities are still trying to recover from the destruction.
The Palisades Fire was one of the most catastrophic wildfires in the history of California. It began on 7 January and over the course of several days it killed 12 people and destroyed more than 6,800 structures. On 8 October, federal prosecutors charged Jonathan Rinderknecht with starting the 1 January fire that would eventually become the Palisades Fire.
Also on 7 January, the Eaton Fire began burning through the community of Altadena, claiming the lives of 19 people and destroying more than 9,400 homes.
