Six California lawmakers voted against wildfire prevention funding ahead of several wildfires in the state which have killed at least 24 people.
The bill, known as the Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024, was approved for the ballot by California lawmakers in July, before being approved by voters in November.
Newsweek has contacted all six lawmakers for comment via email.
Why It Matters
The wildfires that have ravaged Southern California over the past week are among the most devastating ever in the state—and could be among the costliest in American history.
Private forecaster AccuWeather has estimated the damages and economic loss caused by the fires to be between $250 billion and $275 billion, as thousands of structures, including many homes and well-known landmarks, are thought to be destroyed.
Meanwhile, the fires have sparked a dispute between L.A.'s fire chief and authorities over budget cuts. Funding for the city's fire department decreased by $17.6 million, or 2 percent, between the 2024-25 fiscal year and the 2023-24 fiscal year, according to city budget documents. However, the city council in November approved a four-year $203 million contract with the firefighter's union to help boost wages and health benefits for staff, drawing from the budget's general fund.
What To Know
Five Republicans and one Democrat voted against Senate Bill 867 in 2024, which allocated $1.5 billion for wildfire prevention programs.
They include:
- Jasmeet Bains (D): Assembly Member representing the 35th District, encompassing parts of Kern County.
- Bill Essayli (R): Assembly Member representing the 63rd District, which includes areas such as Canyon Lake, Corona, and Riverside.
- James Gallagher (R): Assembly Member representing the 3rd District, covering parts of Northern California, including Yuba City.
- Jim Patterson (R): Assembly Member who represented the 8th District, serving areas in the Central Valley.
- Joe Patterson (R): Assembly Member representing the 5th District, which includes parts of Placer and El Dorado counties.
- Tri Ta (R): Assembly Member representing the 70th District, covering areas in Orange County, including Westminster.
The bill authorized the state of California to borrow $10 billion to pay for climate and environmental projects, with taxpayers paying the bond back via interest. According to the bill, the money allocated for wildfire prevention would go to the Natural Resources Agency for grants to improve fire prevention and forest health. Tens of millions would also go to other agencies such as Cal Fire for wildfire ignition detection technology and the California Conservation Corps.
As well as the $1.5 billion for wildfire prevention programs, the bill allocated $3.8 billion to water projects, $1.2 billion towards protecting the coast from sea level rise, and $850 million towards clean energy projects. Other money went towards creating parks, protecting wildlife and habitats and addressing extreme heat events.
Meanwhile, the bill requires that at least 40 percent of the $10 billion bond goes towards projects that provide benefits to disadvantaged communities, defined as populations where the median household income is less than 80 percent of the area average or less than 80 percent of the statewide median.
But Democratic Assembleymember Jasmeet Bains, who voted against the bill, argued that the definition of vulnerable populations had been diluted. "It's fundamentally unjust," she said at the time, also raising concerns over whether whether $10 billion would be enough to make a difference in the state.
Meawnwhile, others opposed adding to California's debt by voting for the bill.
An analyst for the Assembly estimated that the $10 billion bond would cost the state $650 million a year for the next 30 years for a total of more than $19 billion.
Two months after the bill was approved in a ballot measure, wildfires decimated several parts of Los Angeles, killing 24 people and destroying more than 12,000 structures. Twenty-three people are still missing as a result of the fires, while thousands are still under evacuation orders in Southern California.
What Happens Next
Strong winds are expected to return to Los Angeles on Tuesday and Wednesday, complicating firefighters' efforts to contain and extinguish the flames. As of Tuesday morning, the fires were only partially contained.