Senate Emergency Management Committee

14 April 2026

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Senate Emergency Management Committee Mon, 13 Apr 2026 California State Senate

00:11 - 00:25

Speaker 1

All right, Senate Emergency Management meeting will now come to order. We will start as a subcommittee, and we'll wait to establish a quorum, but to start us off, we'll see our Vice Chair present our fifth item, SB nine zero four. Mr. Vice Chair, please.

00:25 - 01:14

Speaker 2

Thank you, Honorable Chair. I'm here to present SB nine zero four. SB nine zero four builds upon the broad and coordinated agency response effort demonstrated in the LA County and Palisades fires last year and ensures similar responses will be undertaken for all future state of emergency wildfire disasters. Specifically, the bill codifies similar provisions from executive order N-four 25 that focus on identifying permitting requirements and building codes that may impede rebuilding efforts. The bottom line is that this sort of an urgent coordination called for by SB nine zero four ought to be the standard procedure for all wildfire disasters moving forward.

This bill will help to ensure no wildfire disaster communities get overlooked in future recovery efforts. I respectfully ask for an aye vote and I did not bring any witnesses.

01:14 - 01:27

Speaker 1

Okay, so we'll just do it for the sake of protocol. Anyone here for support? Seeing none, anyone here in opposition? We have please approach the microphone if you're here in opposition.

01:36 - 01:42

Speaker 3

Good afternoon. I'm Megan Shumway, from Climate Action California, and we oppose this bill.

01:43 - 02:32

Speaker 1

Okay. Thank you. Seeing no others in opposition, we will bring it back to the dais. Questions, concerns? Appreciate you bringing the measure forward.

We'll be keeping an eye on this one. We want to make sure that we do make sure ensure the permitting process goes efficiently, but we know there are some concerns about some of the streamlining that occurred in the process. We've been looking, for example, at water supply issues today in a separate committee, things like that. So but I appreciate you bringing the measure. I'll be supporting it today, and I look forward to keeping track of this as it moves forward.

I'll allow you to close.

02:32 - 03:07

Speaker 2

Thank you very much. And I know there may be concerns that this is about trying to skip processes, but it is not. What it's doing is identifying some of the common processes that happen in everything, every fire. And some of them are unique and some of them are not. And identifying which ones can and which ones can't be overlooked.

So it doesn't eliminate anything. It still has plenty of protections and it just tries to help people get back into their homes or at least get back to building their homes faster. And I appreciate it and I vote when the time comes.

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