Conejo Valley homeowners who survive a future wildfire without losing their house to flames will have new legal protections when filing smoke-damage insurance claims starting Jan. 1, 2027.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed four wildfire-recovery bills into law on Tuesday, Sept. 15, at a ceremony in Altadena. The package creates what the governor's office called the nation's first enforceable standards for how smoke-damaged homes should be tested, cleaned and restored.
The centerpiece, AB 1795, authored by Assemblymember Mike A. Gipson (D-Carson), establishes a legal presumption that smoke damage found within a designated wildfire zone was caused by that fire.
That changes the math for homeowners. Insurers, not policyholders, must now disprove the connection between a wildfire and smoke contamination in a home.
Before the new law, homeowners often had to prove on their own that wildfire smoke contaminated their property. Southern California insurance broker Karl Susman described the inconsistency to KQED: "You might have one company that says, 'We're going to come in there, clean it all up, and we're going to pay for you to live somewhere while we're doing it.' Another company would come in and say, 'Yeah, just get a vacuum and you should be good.'"
What the laws require
Under AB 1795, insurers must pay for lead and asbestos testing and remediation in smoke-damaged homes within a wildfire zone. They must also cover full cleanup and restoration to pre-loss condition. Insurers cannot cut off Additional Living Expense (ALE) coverage until a home is remediated and safe to occupy. Policyholders keep the right to choose their own restoration contractors, and insurance adjusters will receive specialized training for smoke-damage claims.
A companion bill, AB 1642, authored by Assemblymember John Harabedian (D-Pasadena), directs the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) and the California Air Resources Board to develop permanent testing and cleanup standards. DTSC must finalize lead and asbestos standards by the end of 2028 and standards for other toxic materials by the end of 2029. Until those are ready, existing federal and state lead and asbestos exposure standards apply.
Mortgage protections
Two additional bills address mortgage relief. AB 1842 creates a permanent statewide forbearance program for homeowners whose homes are deemed uninhabitable after a federally declared disaster. Lenders cannot charge penalties or late fees while payments are paused.
AB 1847 extends forbearance for survivors of the January 2025 Los Angeles County fires to 24 months, doubling the prior 12-month window. The deadline for those homeowners to request forbearance now runs to Jan. 7, 2029.
Why it matters locally
The California Department of Insurance estimates that more than 13,000 of the roughly 40,000 claims filed after the January 2025 fires involved smoke damage to homes that never burned. The 2018 Woolsey Fire burned through areas adjacent to Thousand Oaks and Westlake Village, exposing local homeowners to the kind of smoke-damage disputes these laws aim to prevent.
The new laws are not retroactive. Survivors of the January 2025 LA fires generally cannot use the new provisions for existing claims, according to KQED.
Homeowners who believe an insurer is violating the new law after it takes effect can file a complaint with the California Department of Insurance. The department's consumer hotline is 1-800-927-4357.
