AB 1642 & AB 1795 — EFRU UPDATE

URGENT CALL TO ACTION
ACT NOW
CALL SENATE LEADERSHIP

Contact legislators before the bills come before the State Senate and Assembly
on Monday, August 31 at 7pm and urge them to vote YES on AB 1642 and AB 1795.

CALL TO ACTION

Hello Fire Recovery Partners,

In the final days of negotiations, after the involvement of the Governor’s Office and Senate, the bills are now contingent upon each other and establish first in the nation standards for when a residential property is cleared for human occupancy post-wildfire.

After months of advocacy and difficult negotiations, EFRU supports AB 1642 and AB 1795 moving forward through the California State Senate and Assembly.

Had these protections existed in 2025, fire survivors would have had a more scientific, evidence-based recovery process instead of fighting individually over contamination, testing, causation, and safe occupancy.

AB 1642 establishes the public-health framework, including:

Interim lead and asbestos clearance standards for inside the wildfire impact zone
Future guidance addressing:
- CAM 17 metals
- Cyanide
- Lithium
- Manganese
- Dioxins/furans
- PAHs
CARB indoor-air guidance covering contaminants including VOCs
Guidance for schools to support safe reopening after a wildfire.
Sampling, remediation and contamination guidance for soil.
Existing policyholder rights are preserved, including the right to choose your own contractor.
Both bills help families affected by urban fires, not only forest fires, and no declared state of emergency is required.

AB 1795 establishes the insurance framework, including:

A rebuttable presumption of wildfire causation within “wildfire impact zone” that applies to:
- Insurer responsibility for necessary testing inside zone
- ALE protection until a covered property is restored to preloss condition and cleared for occupancy
- Claims-handling and payment requirements
Lead and asbestos clearance standards
A requirement that industry standards cannot conflict with AB 1642 public-health standards

AB 1795 establishes a clear framework for insurance companies, requiring them to utilize the independent, science-based testing standards developed under AB 1642 when evaluating wildfire smoke claims inside of the “wildfire impact zone” which AB 1795 defines as including zip codes inside or touching the fire perimeter.

It is important to know that homeowners living outside the designated “wildfire impact zone” still retain their full rights to file a contamination claim and seek restoration to pre-loss condition. Together, these bills provide the consistent, evidence-based guidelines that families needed—but lacked—following the devastating January 2025 fires.

For the first time, legislation will recognize that a home can survive the flames from a fire and still suffer serious indoor contaminant damage.

For these reasons, EFRU supports passage of both AB 1642 and AB 1795.

In solidarity,

Jane Lawton Potelle

EFRU’s position letter on bill package