Official Summary Text
AB 1795, as amended, Gipson.
Smoke Damage Recovery Act.
(1) Existing law requires the Secretary for Environmental Protection to implement a unified hazardous waste and hazardous materials management regulatory program, known as the unified program. Existing law requires the Office of the State Fire Marshal to develop and make available on its internet website a Wildland-Urban Interface Fire Safety Building Standards Compliance training intended for use in the training of local building officials, builders, and fire service personnel, as specified. Existing law authorizes the Office of the State Fire Marshal to allow certification of contractors who conduct defensible space, home hardening, fuel reduction, roadside clearance, and other contracting activities for wildlife resiliency efforts and who have completed specified training programs.
This bill, the Smoke Damage Recovery
Act, would require the California Environmental Protection Agency, on or before June 30, 2027, and in coordination with other state agencies and local public health departments, to develop health-based standards for required sampling, testing, and chemical screening levels for residential properties that have sustained smoke damage as a result of a wildland-urban interface fire or urban conflagration. The bill would authorize the California Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or a city or county public health or safety agency to designate a smoke exposure zone for a specific wildfire, as provided, and, upon that designation, establish that the smoke exposure zone would supersede the default zones. The bill would additionally authorize the California Environmental Protection Agency to impose additional sampling, testing, or chemical screening requirements pertaining to a specific wildfire.
This bill would require the
California Environmental Protection Agency, on or before January 1, 2028, and in consultation with state and local agencies, to establish training and certification requirements for a person who inspects, evaluates, samples, tests, analyzes, or restores residential properties that have sustained smoke damage as a result of a wildland-urban interface fire or urban conflagration. The bill would require the California Environmental Protection Agency to promulgate regulations, if necessary, to implement, administer, and enforce the training and certification requirements, establish rules for noncompliance, and determine which entity or entities shall have jurisdiction over the different categories of persons who will be subject to the requirements. The bill would require the regulations to establish the fees that will be required for the certifications, and limit the fees to the amount sufficient to cover the costs of administering and enforcing these requirements. The bill would establish the Wildfire
Remediation Certification and Training Fund in the State Treasury, require fees collected pursuant to these provisions to be deposited into the fund, and make these funds available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for use in administering the training and certification requirements.
(2) Existing law generally regulates classes of insurance, including fire and residential property insurance. Existing law specifies the measure of indemnity under an open fire insurance policy that requires payment of actual cash value or replacement cost. If there is a covered loss relating to a state of emergency, existing law requires additional living expense coverage to be for a period of no less than 24 months from the inception of the loss.
This bill would prohibit an insurer from terminating additional living expenses coverage for a residential property insurance smoke damage claim as a result of a
wildland-urban interface fire or urban conflagration that is declared a state of emergency until the property has been cleared for habitation, as specified. The bill would require the above-described California Environmental Protection Agency guidance and specified local or state guidance to apply to these claims. The bill would create a rebuttable presumption regarding the impact classification of a smoke-damaged property and would make an insurer responsible for the cost of sampling and testing required pursuant to California Environmental Protection Agency guidance. The bill would require an insurer that chooses to exercise its right to inspect a smoke-damaged property to inspect the property as soon as practicable, but no later than 30 calendar days after receiving notice of the claim or, if applicable, no later than 30 calendar days after access to the property is granted. The bill would require the insurer to pay the actual cash value of the cost to restore the damaged property no later than 30
calendar days after the inspection, unless the policyholder has agreed to remediation and restoration by the insurer. After that payment is made, the bill would require the insurer to pay the undisputed amount of replacement cost, up to the applicable policy limits, within 15 calendar days from the date the insured provides the insurer with their contractor’s contract to remediate and restore the damaged property to its preloss condition, unless the policyholder has agreed to remediation and restoration by the insurer.
(3) Existing law, the Insurance Adjuster Act, generally regulates the licensing of insurance adjusters. Existing law, the Public Insurance Adjusters Act, generally regulates the licensing of public insurance adjusters. The acts set forth various requirements with respect to operation as an insurance adjuster or public insurance adjuster.
This bill would require the Department of
Insurance to develop training and certification programs for insurance adjusters and public insurance adjusters in inspecting, evaluating, sampling, or testing smoke damage caused by a wildland-urban interface fire or urban conflagration in residential properties. The bill would require an insurer, adjuster firm, or qualified manager to train and accredit its adjusters in accordance with those standards, and would require a public insurance adjuster hired by an insured to adjust smoke damage claims to have the requisite license, training, and certification.
(4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.