Wildfire Mitigation Aging and Disability Grant Pilot Program.

Plain English Breakdown

The exact criteria for awarding grants are not detailed in the provided summary.

Wildfire Mitigation Grant Program for Seniors and People with Disabilities

This law creates a grant program to help older adults and people with disabilities protect their homes from wildfires in specific areas of California.

What This Bill Does

• Creates the Wildfire Mitigation Aging and Disability Grant Pilot Program run by the California Department of Aging through specified area agencies on aging.
• Gives grants to seniors and individuals with disabilities who need help protecting their properties from wildfires but don't have enough money to do it themselves, based on specific criteria.
• Requires grant applications to show proof that they really need the funds for wildfire protection.
• Allows grant money to be used to pay contractors or service providers to perform wildfire mitigation activities on applicants' properties.
• Needs $1,000,000 from the state's General Fund to start and run this program.

Who It Names or Affects

• Seniors and individuals with disabilities in specific areas of California who own property at risk for wildfires: Area 4, El Dorado County Area, Planning and Service Areas 4, 29, and 33.
• Area agencies on aging that will manage the grant application process and distribute funds.

Terms To Know

Grant

Money given by a government agency to help people or organizations do something important, like protecting homes from fires.

Wildfire Mitigation

Actions taken to reduce the risk of damage from wildfires, such as clearing brush and creating firebreaks.

Limits and Unknowns

• The program will end on January 1, 2030.
• It only applies to specific areas in California: Area 4, El Dorado County Area, Planning and Service Areas 4, 29, and 33.

Official Summary Text

AB 2037, as amended, Patterson.
Wildfire Mitigation Aging and Disability Grant Pilot Program.
Existing law, the Mello-Granlund Older Californians Act, establishes the California Department of Aging in the California Health and Human Services Agency and sets forth its mission to provide leadership to the area agencies on aging in developing systems of home- and community-based services that maintain individuals in their own homes or the least restrictive homelike environments.
This bill would establish the Wildfire Mitigation Aging and Disability Grant Pilot Program to be administered by the California Department of Aging through specified area agencies on aging, including
Area 4 and El Dorado County Area.
Planning and Service Areas 4, 29, and 33.
The bill would award grants, based on specified criteria, to seniors and individuals with disabilities to mitigate against wildfires on properties they own that they would not otherwise be able to protect with existing resources. The bill would require the area agencies on aging to award grants on a competitive basis and would require applications to contain specified information, including proof of need. The bill would also authorize the grant funding to be used towards the costs associated with hiring contractors or other qualified service providers to perform wildfire mitigation activities. The bill would appropriate the sum of $1,000,000 from the General Fund to the Department of Aging to implement these provisions.
The bill would also require the area agencies on aging to retain specified information and report that information to the department upon the completion of the pilot program, including the number of applicants and the amount of money distributed.
This bill would make these provisions inoperative on January 1, 2030, and would repeal these provisions on that date.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF