California Safe Homes grant program.

Assembly Member Calderon, joined by colleagues Bauer-Kahan, Berman, Gipson, Hadwick, Haney, Harabedian, and Wallis, advances a proposal to create the California Safe Homes grant program, administered by the Department of Insurance, to reduce wildfire losses and to improve insurability and resilience through home-hardening measures aligned with the department’s Safer from Wildfires framework. The program would operate with a dedicated funding mechanism—the Sustainable Insurance Account within the Insurance Fund—supported by legislative appropriation, federal or other grants, or other fund sources, with funds restricted to program activities and not redistributable to other purposes.

Key elements establish the scope and administration of the program. The department may adopt rules and set eligibility criteria, including the possibility of contracting with a third party for program administration. Grant funding priorities are to be pursued in descending order: roof replacements that meet Safer from Wildfires standards, the creation of a five-foot noncombustible zone around structures, and communitywide mitigation projects that address pre-disaster risk factors, align with existing risk mitigations, and are anticipated to benefit policyholders. Eligible applicants include qualifying individuals—whose property is insured by an admitted insurer or the California FAIR Plan Association, located in ZIP Codes overlapping high or very high fire hazard severity zones, and with income at or below county low-income limits—and qualifying cities, counties, and special districts that demonstrate alignment with the program’s priorities and performance-tracking criteria. The department will collect information on grantee use of funds, including receipts and attestations, as well as regional distribution data; the California FAIR Plan Association must report annually on policyholders qualifying for the specified mitigation factors, and the department must publish a biennial performance report beginning in 2027 and every two years thereafter, with information drawn from aggregate grantee data and progress toward program objectives.

The bill ties the program to existing regulatory and mapping frameworks without repealing current statutes. It relies on Safer from Wildfires regulations for prioritizing roof and zoning measures and on Cal Fire hazard maps to determine eligibility by ZIP code. It contemplates ongoing governance and oversight through rulemaking and third-party administration, while emphasizing data collection and transparency through the required reporting cadence. Notably, the proposal does not itself appropriate funds, instead designating the Sustainable Insurance Account as the funding vehicle and leaving the size of the account and annual appropriations to future action or external grants.

In a broader policy context, the plan connects homeowner risk reduction with insurance affordability and market incentives, aiming to enhance resilience across communities facing wildfire risk. By mandating structured performance reporting and geographic distribution data, the proposal seeks to enable ongoing evaluation and inform subsequent budget and regulatory decisions, while coordinating with insurers and state agencies to align mitigation actions with established standards and maps.