State Sen. Sasha Renee Perez brought a legislative and budget update to the Monrovia City Council on Tuesday, detailing wildfire recovery laws, insurance reform efforts and $900 million in newly secured homelessness funding.
The senator, who represents 22 cities and communities across the San Gabriel Valley, told the council the Los Angeles wildfires last year broke out on her second day in office and has shaped her legislative agenda since. Among the legislation she highlighted was Senate Bill 742, which requires the California Public Utilities Commission to create guidelines for investor-owned utilities to remove abandoned or decommissioned lines.
A Cal Fire investigation found decommissioned equipment owned by Southern California Edison Inc. caused the January 2025 Eaton fire, which caused 19 deaths as the blaze devastated Altadena and nearby areas.
“This equipment presents a fire hazard. The Eaton Fire was actually the second fire caused by decommissioned equipment,” Perez said, referring to the 2019 Kincade Fire in Sonoma County. “There are decommissioned lines located all throughout the foothills of the San Gabriel Valley. So it was very important to me that we start creating a plan to remove this equipment, and this now sets that in place so that we have requirements about taking down this unused equipment.”
She also briefed council members on SB 1090, the Keep Altadena Land in Altadena Hands Act, which gives the community a three-year exemption from a state density-splitting law.
“We saw a number of speculators and investors coming into the community of Altadena seeking to purchase properties and utilizing many of the state’s previously passed housing density laws in order to increase density very rapidly across the community,” Perez said. “They wanted to use bills such as SB 1123, which allow for an individual to take a single family lot and split it up to 10 times.
“I’m sure you could imagine as the community is going through the rebuilding process and talking about safe evacuations, how that could cause a lot of concern, especially when we are still in that process of talking about what the evacuation plan is going to be for Altadena in the future,” Perez said.
SB 1098, the Protect Ratepayers from Utility Overspending Act, which requires CPUC oversight of utility balancing and memorandum accounts.
The new law aims to make sure “private utility companies, are using the money as they say that they were going to be used,” Perez said. “If they put money into account to work on fire mitigation efforts, then we want to make sure that those dollars are being applied that way, that they’re not being used towards lobbying, they’re not being used towards communication.”
On insurance, Perez said an investigation into State Farm’s handling of wildfire claims found the company illegally delayed payments and failed to provide full loss-estimate details. Two reform bills, SB 877 and SB 878, were vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom despite being driven by survivor feedback, she said, adding her intention to reintroduce the legislation.
The senator also outlined SB 957, which directs the Department of Justice and the Department of Public Health to create a framework for regulating privately run detention facilities, citing concern that the federal government has not enforced oversight over facilities owned by CoreCivic and GEO Group. She noted six undocumented individuals died in privately run detention facilities over the past year.
“We have been exploring how we can create tighter oversight, because we’ve been very concerned that the federal government has not been enforcing their oversight over facilities owned by CoreCivic and GEO Group,” Perez said. “The state has a responsibility to step in to make sure that these these facilities are operating humanely, that they’re following the state’s basic health and safety laws.”
On budget matters, Perez reported securing $500,000 for Rose Parade security and $300,000 for the Altadena Library District and $15 million to the CARE fund for Altadena recovery.
On the CARE Fund, she said, “This is going to provide gap financing to those homeowners in Altadena that do not have enough insurance coverage to cover the full rebuild of their home. In addition to that, it’s also going to fund the rebuild of affordable housing so that we can get some of our tenants that were impacted. Many tenants did not have insurance and have really been left with limited options.”
She also highlighted $900 million in HAP funding — Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention money used for shelter and homelessness services — that was not originally included in the state budget.
Councilwoman Tamala Kelly asked how Monrovia could access that funding.
Perez said the city can apply through the state and offered staff assistance, noting programs such as winter and extreme-heat shelters qualify.
Kelly noted the city participates in SGV Care, a regional program that responds to nonviolent 911 calls involving mental health crises, behavioral health issues or homelessness, and expressed interest in pursuing the funding.
The AI platform Civilio assisted this report.