Senate committee advances wildfire response package: measures on rental gouging, looting, firefighter workforce and expungements

The California State Senate Committee on Public Safety spent its special-order session Tuesday taking up five wildfire-related bills, advancing measures aimed at protecting disaster victims and supporting the wildfire response workforce.

Senators and witnesses debated expanding price-gouging enforcement on online rental platforms (SB 36), stiffening penalties for looting and impersonating first responders (SB 571), creating workforce pathways and credentialing for incarcerated firefighters (SB 423), and automating post‑release expungements for fire‑camp participants (SB 245). Committee members postponed final votes pending quorum at several points but recorded motions to pass most measures to later committees for fiscal review.

SB 36: rental-price gouging and platform reporting

Sen. Umberg presented SB 36, a response to reports that some landlords and rental platforms raised prices after recent Southern California wildfires. The bill would extend price‑gouging protections to counties within a 50‑mile radius of an affected county, strengthen civil penalties, allow private actions by victims, and require online housing-listing platforms to notify law enforcement and provide a way for users to report suspect listings. Sameeta Tacker of the Consumer Attorneys of California and Christopher Sanchez of the Consumer Federation of California testified in support, saying the measure closes a loophole used by some owners who list properties in adjacent counties where an emergency was not declared.

Opponents focused narrowly on one…