Senate Bill SB546 (Dutton)

Requires the Governor's Office of Emergency Services (OES) to take actions that are necessary to share facilities and systems that would, among other things, include private businesses and nonprofit organizations in a voluntary program that would integrate private sector emergency preparedness measures into governmental disaster planning programs to the extent that the cost of the program is reimbursed by the private sector.

Senate Bill SB955 (Soto)

Would appropriate $25 million in Homeland Security Funds to the Office of Emergency Services for the purpose of acquiring 150 additional "multiple discipline response engines" for assignment to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and fire protection agencies, as specified.

Assembly Bill AB873 (Bogh) This bill would require an insurer under a homeowners' insurance policy to provide an insured with a copy of his or her policy within 30 calendar days of receiving a request from the insured , or within 60 calendar days of receiving such a request if a state of emergency has been declared by the Governor or the President in the area in which the insured property is located

Senate Committee Resolution SCR24 (Keul) This measure would, in light of the annual losses in the state of life, property, and natural resources resulting from wildland fire, urge the federal government to provide federal financial assistance to be used to predict wildfire behavior. The measure would also request that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) undertake the development of a National Fire Weather Center, which would allocate resources to provide rapid and accurate meteorological information that is useful for predicting the movement of wildfire perimeters, guiding evacuations, and enabling government officials to make informed decisions about how to most effectively attack a wildfire and deploy resources.

Senate Bill SB1075  (Hollingsworth)

Existing law ratifies, approves, and sets forth the provisions of the Interstate Civil Defense and Disaster Compact. This bill would repeal those provisions and instead ratify, approve, and set forth the provisions of the Emergency Management Assistance Compact.

It is the intent of the State of California to continue its long history of sharing emergency response resources with other states during times of disaster. Californian's have benefited from the assistance provided by the firefighters, law enforcement officers, emergency medical personal, and other emergency staff received from other states during our calamitous fires, earthquakes, winters storms, and other disasters. We must now join our sister states in ensuring we are prepared to aid our people during emergencies by entering into the Emergency Management Assistance Compact as it was adopted by Congress.

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3. Updating the Personal Property Inventory Guide

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Carol Phillips, the lady who wrote "The Personal Property Inventory Guide" (aka, the yellow book) has been talking with United Policyholders about updating the book.  They were wondering how useful it was and what kind of changes should be made for it to be even more useful.  You can forward comments to me at lilahayes@hotmail.com or to Amy at United Policyholders at info@unitedpolicyholders.org.

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4. RFA's to the CDI

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As of April 30, 2005 there have been 819 2003 Firestorm related Request for Assistance (RFA) forms submitted to the California Department of Insurance (CDI).  It's not too late to turn in an RFA if you're still experiencing problems.  Please also seek out professional advice.  We have found CARe's (www.carehelp.org) assistance invaluable.