Monday, May 18, 2026

Wildfire Home Contamination Testing Bill Advances to Assembly Floor

AB 1642, authored by Pasadena Assemblymember and sponsored by Altadena-based group, faces opposition from insurance trade associations

Assembly Bill 1642, a measure that would create statewide testing standards for homes, schools and workplaces after wildfires, cleared the Assembly Appropriations Committee on Thursday and will advance to the Assembly Floor, according to a press release from the bill’s author, Assemblymember John Harabedian (D-Pasadena).

The bill, sponsored by Altadena-based Eaton Fire Residents United, would direct the California Department of Toxic Substances Control to adopt emergency regulations by July 1, 2027 establishing science-informed, health-based standards for testing and removing lead and asbestos from structures in residential areas after a wildfire, according to the bill text. The measure would require additional regulations for other hazardous chemicals by July 1, 2028.

The bill, titled the Wildfire Environmental Safety and Testing Act, advances 16 months after the Eaton Fire ignited on January 7, 2025, burning more than 14,000 acres and destroying more than 9,400 structures in Altadena and surrounding communities, according to Cal Fire.

“Moving out of Appropriations is a critical milestone,” Harabedian said in the press release. “Families deserve clear, reliable answers about whether their homes are safe. This bill ensures those decisions are grounded in science and public health.”

Under existing California law, no uniform statewide framework specifies when a home is safe to reoccupy after a wildfire, according to the bill text. AB 1642 would add Part 3, commencing with Section 13980, to Division 12 of the Health and Safety Code. As an urgency statute, the bill requires a two-thirds majority and would take effect immediately if signed.

The bill passed its first policy committee — the Assembly Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials — on March 10 in a 5-0 vote, according to a CalMatters commentary by attorney Michelle Meyers published May 5. It was placed on the Assembly Appropriations Committee’s suspense file on April 8, according to CalMatters Digital Democracy.

Eaton Fire Residents United, the bill’s sponsor, has compiled testing data from residents of standing homes after the fire. “People are living, learning, and working in places that may still be contaminated with lead and asbestos from the devastating LA Fires — and that is an urgent public health risk,” the group said in a statement issued in March when it announced its sponsorship.

The group has also said the bill “creates clear, science-based statewide standards for testing and cleanup of indoor and soil contamination so families aren’t forced to choose between coming home and protecting their health.”

Francois Tissot, a professor of geochemistry at the California Institute of Technology, has said testing his research group conducted after the Eaton Fire found contamination spreading well beyond the burn area. “The data we collected after the Eaton Fire tells a clear story: lead and other toxic heavy metals released by the fire have contaminated homes both within and well beyond the fire zone,” Tissot said in a March statement included in Harabedian’s office’s announcement of Eaton Fire Residents United’s sponsorship.

The bill has drawn formal opposition from insurance trade associations, according to the CalMatters commentary by Meyers, a partner at the Singleton Schreiber law firm who represents Eaton Fire homeowners. Meyers wrote that trade associations have filed formal opposition to AB 1642 while not opposing a separate measure, AB 1795, which takes a different approach by tying home-restoration safety standards to industry-trade-association guidelines.

The legislation is one of several wildfire-related bills Harabedian has introduced since the January 2025 fires. His prior measures include AB 238, the Mortgage Forbearance Act, which was signed into law, and AB 797, the Community Stabilization Act, according to his office.

Harabedian represents Assembly District 41, which the press release identified as covering La Cañada Flintridge, Pasadena, Altadena, Sierra Madre, Monrovia, Bradbury, San Dimas, La Verne, Claremont, Upland, Rancho Cucamonga, Oak Hills, Piñon Hills and Phelan.

The press release stated AB 1642 will advance to the Assembly Floor for a vote “in the coming two weeks.”