Senate committee advances SB 293 to protect intergenerational homeownership after Altadena wildfires

Senator Perez introduced Senate Bill 293, the Generational Homeownership Protection Act, and the Senate Committee on Revenue and Taxation voted to move the bill to the Committee on Appropriations after testimony from community members and county assessors.

SB 293 would allow homeowners who lost or sustained damage to their homes in a declared emergency to update property-transfer records without penalties and would extend the filing deadline for certain intergenerational transfer paperwork from six months to three years. Senator Perez said the bill is intended to help families in Altadena whose homes were passed down informally and who now face barriers to rebuilding and to claiming property tax exemptions.

“SB 293, the generational homeownership protection act, will ensure that homeowners who have lost or sustained damage to their homes in a declared emergency can update their property transfer records without unnecessary barriers during the rebuild process,” Senator Perez said. She described Altadena as “one of the only places where the African American community could build generational wealth” and said the Eaton Fire destroyed nearly 10,000 structures in the region.

Brandon Lamar, representing the NAACP Pasadena chapter, testified in support, describing long family residency in Altadena and the loss of homes and schools in the fires. “This is something that we’re definitely standing behind,” Lamar said, adding his family has lived in Altadena since 1905.

Joaquin Torres, chair of the California Assessors Association legislative committee and San Francisco county assessor, told the committee the assessors’ association is leaning toward supporting the measure and emphasized that the bill would protect parent-to-child and grandparent-to-grandchild exclusions from being lost because homeowners missed filing deadlines during the emergency. Torres thanked Los Angeles County Assessor Jeff Prang for his leadership in related relief efforts.

Committee members expressed support for the measure and the chair called the roll after a motion to pass the bill as amended to the Committee on Appropriations. The roll call recorded Senators McNerney, Valadares, Ashby, Grayson and Umberg voting aye. The clerk recorded the motion as passed and the bill was placed on call and then advanced to appropriations.

Discussion vs. decision: committee discussion focused on the bill’s technical amendments and the urgency of tax relief for disaster victims. The formal action was a motion to pass the bill as amended to the Committee on Appropriations, which the committee approved.

SB 293 is now pending referral to the Appropriations Committee; the measure’s text (as described in testimony) would extend the intergenerational transfer filing deadline from six months to three years and would bar retroactive reassessment for qualifying transfers when the owner has clear title and the property was damaged or destroyed in a declared emergency.

Votes at a glance SB 293 — Motion: pass as amended to Committee on Appropriations. Outcome: passed (roll call recorded as McNerney — aye; Valadares — aye; Ashby — aye; Grayson — aye; Umberg — aye).