Governor Signs Legislation Targeting Fire Protection Costs

SACRAMENTO — Governor Gavin Newsom has signed several bills designed to help property owners, communities, and local volunteer fire departments cope with the increasing costs of fire protection and insurance.

AB 1 requires the Department of Insurance to develop lists of building- and community-level fire hardening measures that insurance companies will have to take into account when setting fire insurance rates.

AB 290 requires the California FAIR plan for fire insurance to offer an automatic payment plan by April 1, 2026.

AB 888 will establish a grant program in the Department of Insurance to provide individuals and local governments in high or very high fire hazard severity zones with funds for home hardening and risk mitigation projects.

SB 87 extends a sales and use tax exemption on goods sold by volunteer fire departments through 2030. This exemption would allow fire departments to keep profits from fundraising activities like selling food and clothing.

However, as previously reported in The Mountain Messenger, Governor Newsom vetoed a measure that would have mandated significant pay raises for Cal Fire firefighters. He cited concerns that setting wages by legislation would undermine collective bargaining as justification for his veto.

The Governor has also signed AB 1264, the Real Food, Healthy Kids Act, which will require state agencies to identify unhealthy ultraprocessed foods and phase them out of school lunches, as well as SB 669, which aims to expand options for rural maternity care using a model created in Plumas County.