Senate Emergency Management Committee

24 March 2026

No chapters available yet

Senate Emergency Management Committee Mon, 23 Mar 2026 California State Senate

00:06 - 01:09

Speaker 1

The Senate Emergency Management Committee will come to order. Good afternoon. If members of the committee can start to make their way to Room 2200, We're going to try to establish a quorum, although I think for right now, so that the author can present, we're going to start as a subcommittee. I want to welcome everyone to the very first of this convening of this Senate Committee. It's an August occasion.

A couple important bills, but I do want to thank the staff for joining us here and stepping up and really making it happen here with this committee. So Cassie and Mary, our consultant and our committee assistant, we really appreciate you making this happen. Thanks to the pro tem for establishing this incredibly important committee. So three bills on the agenda. One is proposed for consent, and one was pulled ten twenty NELA was pulled from this hearing for a future hearing, But Mr.

Archuleta, would you like to take a shot at the first presentation here? And once we establish quorum, we'll do some committee rules and things like that. But, Senator?

01:09 - 04:24

Speaker 2

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and good afternoon, committee members. Today, I'm presenting, senate bill one zero zero one, which would require the California governor's office of emergency service to issue identification cards to essential utility workers, granting those workers easier access to evacuation zones during an emergency. In many emergency situations, public works infrastructure is damaged or cut off. In those cases, utility workers access is essential to maintaining or restoring systems like electricity, gas, or water services.

Unfortunately, our current emergency response system does not make it easy for those essential workers to gain the access they need to do their jobs. Without universally recognizable authorization system, lines of communication between parties can fail, leading to hours, maybe even days and delays of complete denial of access. Just one example for the need for senate bill one zero zero one comes from the twenty twenty five Eaton fire. And and in its immediate aftermath, employees of the Roland Water District in response to a mutual aid request from Rubio Canyon Land and Water Association sought to assist with turning off water services at the burned down structures. Roland Water District employees were in uniform, drove to the scene in marked vehicles, and presented their letter from Rubio Canyon request assisting to the law enforcement check.

At that point, they were not given access. Despite this, they were denied several times and could not contribute to the effort. By mirroring existing access laws and safety protections for journalists and agricultural workers, Senate Bill 1,001 takes a common sense approach that puts safety and emergency responses first. In emergencies, rapid response is a matter of life or death. Senate bill one zero zero one establishes a system that will facilitate essential work behind the lines of evacuation zones.

We cannot wait for the next disaster before passing common sense laws like this one. Standardizing access to emergency areas will allow essential workers across the state to maintain the infrastructure and assist in disaster response hours earlier than currently exists today. With me to present Senate Bill 1,001 and answer any questions are Tom Coleman, the general manager of Roland Water District and Adrian Betty, the chief executive officer of the Association of California Water Agencies, Joint Powers Insurance Authority. And I respectfully ask for your I vote and your time. Thank you.

04:25 - 04:42

Speaker 1

Thank you, senator. If the support would assist, two minutes each. Thank you. Hi, Dan. You just pause for me for one second while we establish a quorum here, in case.

Is that okay? Just pardon the indulgence here. So committee assistant, please call the

04:42 - 04:43

Speaker 3

roll. Oh,

Ask anything about this video — I analyse its transcript to answer.