Enhanced infrastructure financing district: climate resilience districts.

Senator Pérez's climate resilience district legislation provides California cities and counties with expedited procedures to establish enhanced infrastructure financing districts in areas impacted by state-declared disasters. The measure allows local governments to bypass standard infrastructure financing requirements when creating districts, provided the disaster has substantially reduced normal area usage and the district is formed within two years of the emergency declaration.

The districts may use incremental property tax revenues and local sales tax allocations to fund disaster recovery and resilience projects. Authorized expenditures include repairing damaged infrastructure and housing, implementing risk mitigation measures like utility hardening, and supporting economic recovery through construction loans, business assistance, and workforce development programs. Adjacent areas comprising up to 20% of the total district may be included to support comprehensive recovery efforts.

Local governments must hold public meetings before establishing districts and adopting infrastructure financing plans, with notices posted online at least 10 days in advance. While districts can approve projects that conflict with general or specific plans, they must make financing plans available for public review 30 days before adoption and consult affected taxing entities. The legislation takes effect immediately to facilitate recovery from the January 2025 Los Angeles County wildfires and enable rapid response to future disasters.