Alex Padilla U.S. Senator for California

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As Southern California recovers from devastating fires, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) introduced a package of three bipartisan bills to bolster fire resilience and proactive mitigation efforts. The package includes the Wildfire Emergency Act, to support forest restoration, wildfire mitigation, and energy resilience; the Fire-Safe Electrical Corridors Act, to authorize the removal of trees or other vegetation within existing electrical utility corridors; and the Disaster Mitigation and Tax Parity Act, to further incentivize homeowners to proactively protect their homes from disasters.

The package of bipartisan bills comes as Southern California begins the recovery from one of the worst natural disasters in state history. The Palisades and Eaton fires have burned over 57,000 acres and destroyed over 16,200 structures, claiming the lives of at least 29 victims.

“The devastating fires in Southern California are a harsh reminder of the importance of proactive fire mitigation efforts to keep families and homes safe,” said Senator Padilla. “As these disasters become more frequent and more extreme, we need to find smarter solutions to strengthen fire resilience across the country. From expediting the removal of hazardous fuels near power lines, to supporting our wildland firefighting forces, to hardening homes and energy facilities, these commonsense bills would help reduce the threats of catastrophic fires to California communities.”

“Montanans see firsthand the effects that catastrophic wildfires have on our communities. These bipartisan bills will streamline forest management processes to mitigate the root causes of wildfires, improve community and home hardening efforts, and support our brave firefighters. I’ll work every day for more solutions to keep our state safe,” said Senator Steve Daines (R-Mont.), co-lead of the Wildfire Emergency Act and the Fire-Safe Electrical Corridors Act.

“This commonsense legislation takes a critical step toward empowering individuals and communities to better protect themselves from the devastating effects of natural disasters like Hurricane Helene,” said Senator Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), co-lead of the Disaster Mitigation and Tax Parity Act. “By excluding qualified catastrophe mitigation payments from income tax, we are incentivizing property owners to make the necessary improvements that reduce damage and save lives. This proactive approach to disaster preparedness not only helps families rebuild faster but strengthens our resilience in the face of future disasters.”

“We have seen how natural disasters have devastated communities around the country, and we must ensure we have the resources and programs in place to respond. Homeowners should not face additional taxes for wanting to protect their homes and our bipartisan legislation will provide the needed tax relief to help affected Americans recover from these disasters,” said Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), co-lead of the Disaster Mitigation and Tax Parity Act.

“Louisianans understand the impact of devastating storms, but with the help of state and local programs, we have tools to rebuild and return to wholeness,” said Dr. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), co-lead of the Disaster Mitigation and Tax Parity Act. “If communities need tax relief, let’s give it to them!”

Wildfire Emergency Act

This sweeping legislation, co-led by Senator Daines, would reduce the threat of destructive wildfires through forest restoration, firefighter training, energy resilience retrofits, and wildfire-hardening home modifications in low-income communities. This bipartisan bill would take numerous steps to ensure that the Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Department of Energy (DOE), and the Department of the Interior (DOI) are better able to mitigate the risk and impact of wildfires. 

Specifically, the legislation would:

• Provide the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) with a pilot authority to leverage private financing to increase the pace and scale of forest restoration projects. The USFS would be able to expand up to 20 existing collaborative forest restoration projects using this pilot authority.

• Authorize funding for programs to expand the forest conservation and wildland firefighting workforce.

• Establish an energy resilience program at DOE to ensure that critical facilities remain active during wildfire disruptions, authorizing up to $100 million for necessary retrofits.

• Expand an existing DOE weatherization grant program to provide up to $13,000 to low-income households to make wildfire-hardening retrofits, such as ember-resistant roofs or gutters.

• Expedite the placement of wildfire detection equipment on the ground, such as sensors or cameras, as well as the use of space-based observation.

• Establish a prescribed fire-training center in the West and authorize grants to support training the next generation of foresters and firefighters.

• Authorize up to $50 million to support community grants of up to $50,000 for locally focused land stewardship and conservation.

A one-pager on the bill is available here.

Full text of the bill is available here.

Fire-Safe Electrical Corridors Act

This bill, co-led by Senator Daines, would allow the U.S. Forest Service to approve the removal of hazardous trees and other vegetation near power lines on federal forest lands without requiring a timber sale, reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfires through easier material removal. The legislation advanced last year through the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources as part of the Promoting Effective Forest Management Act of 2023.

Three of the largest and most destructive wildfires in California history — the 2017 Thomas Fire, the 2018 Camp Fire and the 2021 Dixie Fire — were started by electrical equipment. Together, these wildfires burned more than 1.2 million acres, destroyed more than 15,000 homes, and killed 87 people.

Currently, the USFS allows utility companies to cut down trees and branches in existing utility corridors, but some forest managers interpret the law to forbid removal of the material off the land. This creates uncertainty and can lead to an unnecessary buildup of dead, dry fuels directly under utility lines. This bill would help reduce the risk of wildfires on forest lands by ensuring the clearing of existing corridors and give certainty to utilities.

The legislation would also require any utility that sells marketable forest products from hazardous trees removed near power lines to return any proceeds to the USFS.

A one-pager on the bill is available here.

Full text of the bill is available here.

Disaster Mitigation and Tax Parity Act

This bipartisan legislation, co-led by Senators Tillis, Cassidy, and Schiff would provide a tax exemption on payments from state-based programs for homeowners to proactively harden their homes against natural disasters.

Specifically, the bill excludes from gross income calculations any qualified catastrophe mitigation payment made under a state-based catastrophe loss mitigation program. Qualifying payments are defined as any amount received and used for improvements to an individual’s property for the sole purpose of reducing the damage that would be done by a windstorm, earthquake, flood, or wildfire.

California, North Carolina, and Louisiana are among the states that provide funding to homeowners who take steps to protect their homes from natural disasters. These improvements can include removing trees, bushes, and other fire-prone vegetation close to homes that contribute to wildfires, strengthening foundations to protect against earthquakes, and installing fortified roofs to withstand hurricanes.

However, homeowners are currently required to pay federal taxes on these payments, unnecessarily limiting money available for critical disaster-related upgrades. This fix will bring parity to the tax treatment of disaster mitigation efforts and ensure taxpayers are able to put the full amount of these payments toward securing their homes.

Senators Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) are cosponsoring the legislation.

Full text of the bill is available here.

Senator Padilla has long been a leader in strengthening the federal and state response to wildfires. Last month, Padilla introduced another package of three bipartisan bills to strengthen wildfire resilience and rebuilding efforts through legislation including the Wildland Firefighter Paycheck Protection Act, the Fire Suppression and Response Funding Assurance Act, and the Disaster Housing Reform for American Families Act. His legislation to strengthen FEMA’s wildfire preparedness and response efforts, the FIRE Act, became law in 2022.

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