ALTADENA, CA — California Gov. Gavin Newsom Tuesday signed a package of bills in Altadena to expand mortgage protections, strengthen insurance coverage, improve testing and remediation standards, and create a permanent framework to accelerate wildfire recovery in light of last year's Eaton and Palisades fires.
The new laws create standards for testing and remediating hazardous wildfire smoke contamination for future fires and require insurers to cover qualifying smoke-damage testing, remediation and restoration. The bills also permanently extend mortgage forbearance protections for disaster-affected homeowners.
The governor signed the bills at a meeting with fire survivors, advocates, community leaders and the bill authors. The legislation was developed and drafted with considerable input from these communities, the governor said.
"California will not leave survivors to navigate recovery alone," Newsom said in a statement. "In the wake of the 2025 firestorms, we are continuing to listen, act, and stand alongside the families and communities rebuilding after the Eaton and Palisades fires. These new protections will make insurer obligations clearer and give homeowners more financial flexibility when they need it most. As fire seasons across the West become a year-round reality, California's commitment to recovery must be just as enduring."
The legislation builds on the state's ongoing recovery efforts in Los Angeles, where the state has worked with survivors, local governments and community partners to accelerate debris removal, permitting and rebuilding while providing mortgage relief and other assistance, officials said.
The Department of Insurance estimates that more than 13,000 of the roughly 40,000 insurance claims filed after the January 2025 fires involve smoke damage to homes that never burned. The new legislation marks the country's first enforceable standards for how those homes should be tested, cleaned or restored, Newsom said.
Assembly Bills 1642 and 1795 direct the Department of Toxic Substances Control and the California Air Resources Board to develop the state's first protections for testing, remediation and restoration of lead and asbestos contamination from wildfire smoke, for homes within a fire's ZIP codes. It also requires the DTSC to issue guidance to help schools recover after a wildfire.
The legislation also requires insurers pay for lead and asbestos testing and remediation in smoke-damaged homes within a wildfire zone, cover full cleanup and restoration to pre-loss condition, and bars insurers from cutting off Additional Living Expense coverage until a home is actually remediated and safe to occupy.
AB 1842 creates a national model for granting mortgage forbearance to future wildfire survivors so no family has to immediately pay a mortgage for a home that no longer exists, according to Assemblyman John Harabedian, D- Pasadena.
AB 1847 extends the Mortgage Relief Act for an additional year for survivors of the two wildfires who are still trying to rebuild.
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