SB 1270 California Senate · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Wildfire mitigation program: financial assistance to counties.

Summary

Existing law, contingent upon an appropriation by the Legislature, requires the Office of Emergency Services to enter into a joint powers agreement with the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to develop and administer a comprehensive wildfire mitigation program to, among other things, encourage cost-effective structure hardening and retrofitting to create fire-resistant homes, businesses, and public buildings. Existing law requires the joint powers authority to develop eligibility criteria for property owners, community organizations, and local governments who may receive financial assistance under the program. Existing law authorizes the joint powers authority to accept any federal funds granted, by act of Congress or by executive order, for any purposes related to the wildfire mitigation program. Existing law requires the joint powers authority to submit a report to the Legislature regarding the implementation of the wildfire mitigation program, including specified information. This bill would require the joint powers authority, upon appropriation for specified purposes, to provide financial assistance to the counties with the greatest combined risk of wildfire and social vulnerability based on the above-described eligibility criteria, as provided. The bill would also require certain federal funding, subject to specified conditions, to revert to the joint powers authority to fund home hardening in those counties. The bill would authorize the Office of Emergency Services to exercise maximum discretion to adjust its funding allocations and strategy to include more counties with specified approaches to home hardening, as provided. The bill would require the joint powers authority to additionally include an evaluation of the amount of additional funding that would be required to expand the wildfire mitigation program to those counties. This bill would make related findings and declarations.

Issues: ✓ Budget & Taxes

Bill status died 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Feb 20, 2026 Last action May 14, 2026

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What changed between versions

04/16/26 - Amended Senate → 04/28/26 - Amended Senate · 6 edits · Apr 28, 2026

MODERATE

The April 28 amendment to SB 1270 makes several substantive changes to the wildfire mitigation program bill. Most significantly, it grants the Office of Emergency Services maximum discretion to adjust funding allocations and strategy to include more counties using whole-community approaches to home hardening, and it conditions financial assistance on a legislative appropriation or receipt of additional federal funding. The specific list of 10 named counties was removed from the operative text in favor of a ranking-based approach, and the bill's appropriation status changed from 'no' to 'yes.'

REQUIREMENT

New Section 8654.7(e) gives the Office of Emergency Services maximum discretion to adjust funding allocations and strategy to include more counties with smaller dollar, larger scale, whole community approaches to home hardening that strategically and cost-effectively maximize risk mitigation.

FISCAL

Section 8654.8(b) now conditions financial assistance on an appropriation by the Legislature or receipt of additional federal funding, rather than being unconditional. The bill's appropriation status in the digest changed from 'no' to 'yes.'

SCOPE

The specific list of 10 named counties (Lake, Siskiyou, Tuolumne, Shasta, El Dorado, San Diego, Riverside, Calaveras, Los Angeles, and Tehama) was removed from the operative text of Section 8654.8(b), replacing it with a reference to the 7th through 10th ranked counties based on eligibility criteria or an updated successor ranking.

The detailed list of specific communities eligible for assistance (Kelseyville Riviera, Mount Shasta, Ponderosa Hills, Whitmore, Weber Creek, Dulzura/Campo/Potrero) and the enumerated top ten counties were removed from the findings section of Section 1.

DEFINITION

New subdivisions (f) and (g) added to Section 8654.2 declaring legislative intent to fund home hardening expansion to the top 7th through 10th ranked counties and to authorize OES to determine how much of existing funding allocations can be modified without impacting federal funds.

TECHNICAL

The structure count in findings was corrected from 'more than 18,000 structures' to 'more than 16,000 structures' destroyed or damaged by the Eaton and Palisades Fires. The program name was shortened from 'California Wildfire Mitigation Financial Assistance Program (CWMFAP)' to 'California Wildfire Mitigation Program (CWMP)' in several places.

02/20/26 - Introduced → 04/16/26 - Amended Senate · 7 edits · Apr 16, 2026

MODERATE

SB 1270 was significantly narrowed in scope: it now targets only the 7th through 10th ranked counties (by combined wildfire risk and social vulnerability) rather than all top 10 counties, and adds a mechanism for unspent federal funds to revert specifically to fund home hardening in those lower-ranked counties. The amendment also expands the bill to amend four code sections instead of one, adds a legislative reporting requirement with a July 2028 deadline, sets a sunset date of July 1, 2029, and changes the appropriation from 'no' to 'yes.'

SCOPE

The target for financial assistance was narrowed from all top 10 counties with the greatest combined wildfire risk and social vulnerability to only the 7th through 10th ranked counties. This means the bill no longer funds the top 6 counties, which presumably already have access to other funding sources.

The bill now amends four sections of the Government Code (8654.2, 8654.7, 8654.8, and 8654.10) instead of just Section 8654.8. New Section 8654.2 contains legislative findings about wildfire threats and the intent to expand funding to the 7th-10th ranked counties.

FISCAL

A new provision in Section 8654.7(d) requires that any federal funding received for the wildfire mitigation program that is not liquidated by July 1, 2029 reverts to the joint powers authority specifically to fund home hardening in the 7th through 10th ranked counties.

The appropriation designation changed from 'no' to 'yes,' indicating the amended bill now includes an appropriation. Financial assistance is also now explicitly conditioned on 'an appropriation by the Legislature for this purpose or the receipt of additional federal funding.'

REQUIREMENT

A new Section 8654.10 requires the joint powers authority to submit a detailed report to the Legislature by July 1, 2028, including cost-effectiveness evaluations, risk reduction data, award details, funding sources, barriers encountered, and an estimate of additional funding needed to expand the program to the 7th-10th ranked counties.

TIMELINE

The article now has a sunset date of July 1, 2029, after which it is automatically repealed.

DEFINITION

The findings section now identifies the program as having been awarded a FEMA Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) grant, and adds a finding that this federal grant funding has been fully allocated to the pilot hardening programs in six counties (Lake, San Diego, Shasta, El Dorado, Tuolumne, and Siskiyou).

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Full legislative history

Actions timeline

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Key actions

Committee

Amendments

May 14, 2026

Upper · Passed

May 14 hearing: Held in committee and under submission.

upper

Apr 28, 2026

Upper · Passed

Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

upper

Apr 27, 2026

Upper · Passed

From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 8. Noes 0. Page 3973.) (April 21).

upper

Apr 16, 2026

Upper · Passed

From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on E.M.

upper

Apr 14, 2026

Upper · Passed

From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on E.M. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 3870.) (April 14). Re-referred to Com. on E.M.

upper

Apr 8, 2026

Committee

Re-referred to Coms. on N.R. & W. and E.M.

upper

Mar 4, 2026

Committee

Referred to Coms. on E.M. and N.R. & W.

upper

Feb 20, 2026

Introduced

Introduced. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.

upper

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors