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Assembly approves emergency mortgage forbearance for Palisades fire victims
Summary
The Assembly passed AB 238 on an urgency vote to allow up to one year of mortgage forbearance for homeowners and others directly affected by the Palisades fires.
The California State Assembly on March 6 passed Assembly Bill 238, an urgency measure that allows up to one year of mortgage payment forbearance for people who lost homes or were directly affected by the Palisades fires.
Supporters said the bill responds to immediate post‑fire financial strain and has bipartisan backing after stakeholder negotiations. "This bill, AB 238, provides a real simple solution — up to a year of forbearance payments for those who have lost their homes or have been directly impacted by the fires," Assemblymember Harbidian said on the floor.
Assemblymember Erwin, a joint author, said the measure balances relief for disaster victims with protections for mortgage servicers: "AB 238 strikes an important balance by allowing our constituents who have been devastated, to defer paying their mortgage while still ensuring that mortgage servicers are not completely left out of the loop." The bill received no recorded opposition on the floor and was reported as having moved to neutral among stakeholders prior to passage.
The clerk recorded the roll call under the bill's urgency status: Ayes 66, Noes 0. The clerk announced the measure passes on both the urgency and the measure votes.
The bill text as introduced was described on the floor as providing forbearance up to one year; additional implementation details and administrative rules were not specified in the floor remarks. The Assembly recorded the vote count but did not identify a mover or seconder in the public record excerpt.
AB 238 now proceeds from the Assembly to the next steps specified by legislative procedure for urgent measures.
