SACRAMENTO – This Wildfire Preparedness Week, Senator Ben Allen (D-Pacific Palisades) reflected on the devastation of last year’s LA Fires and the continued need to reduce risk across regions to better mitigate damages when disaster strikes.

“Preparing for the next disaster is daunting, but being proactive can ultimately save lives and treasure,” said Senator Allen. “We need to adopt an all-hands approach to improve community resilience and better protect families from the new challenges of our growth and a changing climate. Collectively, we can make a more meaningful difference through smart actions and investments to be more prepared for the road ahead.”

Senator Allen has spent the previous two years dutifully focused on resilience and risk reduction across California. The passage of his Prop 4 unlocked $10 billion of investments in infrastructure improvements and resilience projects – the largest investment of this kind in state history. After finalizing $3.2 billion Prop 4 investments in 2025-26, the state has proposed at least an additional $2.2 billion for the coming fiscal year. Money has already been put to use to reduce fire fuel in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Allen has additionally proposed two policies this year to comprehensively reduce risk across communities:

• SB 894 provides low-interest loans for Californians to make home hardening and defensible space upgrades to their structure—lowering the financial barrier to important renovations that can reduce a structure’s fire risk by nearly 50 percent.
• SB 1297 establishes Regional Wildfire Partnerships to pool resources between local agencies and nonprofits, insurers, and utilities to meaningfully improve community-scale resilience in a manner that truly meets the needs of stakeholders.

“We cannot improve affordability and reduce risk while operating in siloes,” Allen added. “Preparation to save lives and minimize losses requires public participation and collective action.”