Governor Newsom signs slew of bills including wildfire protection and defensible space

The 2019 legislative year for California has come to an end and Gov. Gavin Newsom wrapped u the session with signing several bills. His first year of office saw 870 new laws and 172 vetoed proposals.

“I want to take a moment to congratulate the Legislature on their work this year and to thank Senate President pro Tempore Toni Atkins and Speaker of the Assembly Anthony Rendon for their leadership," said Newsom in a press release. "Together, we have accomplished a great deal this year – through the budget and legislation – that helps California families get ahead and tackles some of the state’s most intractable problems."

“This year, California passed the nation’s strongest renter protection package. Our state made record housing and homeless investments paired with big new tools for housing production. We moved California closer to universal health care coverage by expanding coverage, increasing Covered California subsidies for middle-income Californians and taking on rising prescription drug prices," he added.

In the approved legislation, doors have opened for some school districts to change their middle and high school start times to 8:00 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. respectively. There are many parts of the bill that have to be analyzed on a local level since it releases rural school districts from having to change. This, and other narratives laid out in the bill, still need to be investigated and flushed out as there are still many unanswered questions for South Lake Tahoe. For Lake Tahoe Unified School District, there would be a lot of factors including the South Tahoe Educators Association's approval. Any possible changes have to go through channels including study sessions and public meetings.

Action for Wildfire Resiliency, a broad coalition of labor, senior, public safety groups, businesses and utilities say they are pleased to see Governor Newsom sign key wildfire prevention legislation the coalition supported:

SB 209 - Creates a wildfire warning center
SB 190 - Develops a model defensible space ordinance
AB 38 - Provides financial assistance and rebates for qualified owners of eligible buildings for fire hardening and vegetation management
AB 1668 - Opens pathways to employment and skills development; increasing the available workforce to provide critical fuels reduction, vegetation management and natural resource protection

“Governor Newsom has been a leader on wildfire issues and we are pleased he agreed these four bills will help boost California’s fire prevention efforts and improve emergency response around the state," said coalition spokesperson Robin Swanson. "Common sense measures like creating a California Wildfire Warning Center, as well as standards and public awareness around defensible space, are important steps in our wildfire prevention efforts. We’re also pleased financial assistance and rebates will be available to California homeowners who are taking important steps to prevent wildfires in their neighborhoods and communities.”

"California, faced with catastrophic wildfires, invested $1 billion to prevent, mitigate and recover from wildfires, disasters and emergencies," said Newsom.