SACRAMENTO — As lawmakers regrouped Thursday after fiery devastation across Los Angeles, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas vowed to back legislation to help homeowners expedite insurance claims, while Senate leader Mike McGuire delivered a tearful floor speech addressing California’s “hellish week.”
“Words cannot explain the absolute shock, horror, sorrow, surrounding the devastation that we see day in and day out,” McGuire (D-Healdsburg) said. “The residents of L.A. County need to hear us loud and clear. We have your back. But first and foremost, we have to get these damn fires out.”
The state’s troubled insurance marketplace could become a focus of lawmakers’ attention this year as Los Angeles recovers from what may be one of the nation’s most expensive natural disasters, with fires having charred at least 9,000 buildings.
Yet the committee that oversees insurance in the state Senate currently lacks a chairperson. McGuire, who has opened an account to run for state insurance commissioner next year, did not fill the post when he announced other leadership positions last week. The insurance committee chair last year was Democratic state Sen. Susan Rubio, who has been questioned by authorities in a sprawling corruption investigation in Baldwin Park.
McGuire’s spokesperson said he is “awaiting additional information from the U.S. attorney’s office before finalizing any decisions” about who will lead the insurance committee.
Attendance at Thursday’s floor sessions was sparse as many lawmakers who represent Los Angeles County were home with family, touring evacuation shelters and making sure other services are available for their constituents.
“The wind is howling. It almost feels like Armageddon,” Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin (D-Thousand Oaks) said in a phone interview Wednesday evening.
Irwin said she wanted to be on the ground with constituents and her family. “You don’t get as much news if you’re up in Sacramento.”
Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino), who also remained in Los Angeles this week, said this year’s priorities will have to shift.
“We’re certainly going to have to pivot as we need to address the needs of the fires,” he said. “We will focus on affordability and housing at the top of the agenda, and also work on wildfire recovery.”
Assembly Speaker Rivas (D-Hollister), a former volunteer firefighter before he was elected to serve his rural agricultural district, told reporters there are plans to push forward legislation that will expedite insurance claims for homeowners. He did not say whether the Assembly will convene a special session to address the aftermath of the wildfires, saying it was “the call of the governor to make.”
Rivas later announced that two Assembly members introduced legislation intended to ensure the financial stability of the FAIR Plan, an insurer of last resort that covers many Southern California families and businesses.
