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Assembly hearing: residents urge making Chiquita Canyon landfill relief payments nontaxable
Summary
Residents and the bill sponsor told the Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee that relief funds distributed to families affected by the Chiquita Canyon landfill fire should be excluded from gross income and not counted against means-tested benefits; the committee placed AB 27 on the suspense file.
Assemblymember Luz Shaba presented AB 27, a bill that would exclude disaster-relief payments tied to the Chiquita Canyon landfill event from gross income and from consideration for state benefit eligibility and taxation. The committee designated the bill a suspense candidate.
Shaba said the Chiquita Canyon landfill has been burning for years and that neighbors have faced chronic fumes, health problems and rising utility and medical bills. "There's a possible cancer cluster that has developed next to the landfill," she said, and described community costs such as replacing evaporative coolers, sealing homes, and running AC and HEPA filtration continually.
Multiple residents testified in support. Steven House, a Val Verde resident who said he lives about 1,600 feet from the landfill, described family illnesses including his wife's stage 3 breast cancer diagnosis and his daughter's autoimmune condition. "I'm asking you to take action to make these relief funds nontaxable as is possible," House said, adding that the funds were spent on home hardening, air purifiers, replacement windows and higher utility bills.
Kevin Smalley, another longtime Val Verde resident, said the landfill has accepted hazardous wastes and that the fire created a public health emergency affecting "20,000 people." He told the committee he declined to reapply for public benefits because he feared relief dollars would make him ineligible.
Assemblymember McKenna asked whether the bill should specifically name "landfill" in the definition of qualifying payments; the author said she preferred broader language to cover other possible relief funds. The author also said advocates have asked the governor's office to consider declaring a state of emergency, and that she believes a state emergency declaration would direct more rapid relief.
Action and next steps: Committee staff designated AB 27 a suspense candidate; the bill will be considered in the suspense-file process. No recorded committee vote on passage was taken at the hearing.
Ending: Sponsor and witnesses said the proposed exclusion would prevent recipients from losing means-tested benefits and from incurring tax liability on aid that they spent entirely on disaster-related costs. The committee took no final vote and placed AB 27 on the suspense file.
