Last week, Senator Alex Padilla introduced two bills to “redesign the federal government’s response to wildfires and provide additional resources to ensure equity for communities experiencing natural disasters.” The first is the FIRE Act, which would make several changes to the Stafford Act that governs the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) including examining ways to speed up the FEMA assistance process. The second is the Disaster Equity and Fairness Act, which would ensure that FEMA’s disaster preparedness and response efforts fully addresses emergency food and water needs following a disaster. In the Senate, the FIRE Act and the Disaster Equity and Fairness Act are co-sponsored by Senator Dianne Feinstein and in the House, the bills were introduced by Representatives Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena), Jared Huffman (D- San Rafael), and Jimmy Panetta (D- Carmel Valley).
