In a Coffee and Conversation event at the Ventura Museum Feb. 21, Assembly member Steve Bennet told a full house that the California legislation is poised to ponder more than a dozen bills across the Senate and Assembly that will advance home hardening, unlock financing, and accelerate innovation to better protect California from future megafires.
“For years, we have worked on cultivating an enhanced sense of urgency in how Sacramento discusses wildfire prevention in the built environment,” he said. “We are committed to establishing policies based on proven methods that reduce loss of life and property so that our communities have a greater chance of surviving fast-moving blazes.” It’s the most comprehensive wildfire-prevention package in California’s state history.
If approved, hardening homes could reduce fire insurance rates with and avoid property tax hikes. Here’s some of the bills:
- AB 1934: Would require the state to develop a voluntary home hardening certification program.
- AB 1960: Gives incentives for homeowners and communities to harden by providing grant opportunities for wildfire prevention grants for communities where at least 50% of the homes have earned home hardened certification.
- AB 1964: Surveys homes in fire risk areas to better understand the number of homes that still need to be hardened and the
general degree of hardening steps that remain in the State - AB 1971: Property Tax Relief encourages homeowners to harden their homes by ensuring upgrades are exempt from increased property tax reassessments.
- AB 1986: Insurance Quotes for Home Hardening would display two prices: 1) a quote for the home in its current state, and 2) after the home has earned a home-hardened certification status.