Bill of the Week: Assembly Bill 2178 (Levine) – Emergency Services

RCRC has lent its support to Assembly Bill 2178, authored by Assembly Member Marc Levine (D-Marin). AB 2178 clarifies that de-energization events, also known as public safety power shutoffs (PSPS), qualify as events for which a state of emergency or local emergency can be declared under the California Emergency Services Act.

Local governments often have limited resources, and last year’s PSPS events imposed significant costs to ensure that critical facilities remained operational, that local emergency response needs were met, and that medically sensitive populations were protected throughout the event. RCRC believes that the clarification is helpful to provide greater flexibility to local agencies to respond to PSPS events and to seek financial assistance from the state to recover costs associated with those activities. AB 2178 is similar in approach to Senate Bill 862 (Dodd), which RCRC is also supporting. RCRC’s support letter can be accessed here.

AB 2178 awaits consideration in the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee. For more information, John Kennedy, Legislative Advocate, can be reached at (916) 447-4806 or jkennedy@rcrcnet.org