To help small businesses and workers in Los Angeles and Ventura counties impacted by the ongoing wildfires to recover and rebuild, Gov. Gavin Newsom has issued an executive order that defers annual licensure fees by one year and waives other requirements that could impose barriers to recovery.

“Small businesses are not only key to a thriving economy but make up the heart of healthy communities,” Newsome said in a press release. “As we help Los Angeles rise and rebuild, it is crucial that we protect and support the businesses and workers affected. Just as we have removed red tape to rebuild our homes, we are breaking down barriers and helping pave the way for impacted businesses and workers to get back on their feet.”

The executive order:

• • Extends the deadline to pay for renewing licenses, certificates, and permits with a renewal date between Jan. 1, 2025, and July 1, 2025.
  • Waives fees until Jan. 7, 2026 for businesses and workers that request duplicate or replacement of a license certificate that was burned or destroyed.
  • Extends deadlines for businesses to appeal license-related proceedings.
  • Eliminates requirements that make relocating certain businesses impacted by the fires more difficult.

Locate a Business Recovery Center as well as emergency/disaster assistance, tax help and relief, and more here. To apply for disaster assistance or replace documents, click here. Disaster assistance can also be applied for by calling 800-621-3362 or using the FEMA app.

As colder, wetter weather occurs throughout the state and the threat of mudslides increases, especially for Los Angeles County wildfire survivors in burn areas, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara issued a bulletin on Monday to P&C insurance companies reminding them of “their legal duty to cover damage from any future mudslide or similar disaster that is caused by recent wildfires that weakened hillsides,” a press release states.

“With the recent wildfires in Los Angeles County leaving communities vulnerable, and winter storms posing an increased threat, it’s critical for residents to understand their protections,” said Lara, in the release. “I am reminding insurance companies of their legal obligation to cover any mudslides, debris flows, or other damage resulting from these fires so that affected individuals can recover as quickly as possible.”

The bulletin notes that California Insurance Code section 530 states, “An insurer is liable for a loss of which a peril insured against was the proximate cause, although a peril not contemplated by the contract may have been a remote cause of the loss; but he is not liable for a loss of which the peril insured against was only a remote cause.”

The bulletin adds that the code “sets forth the efficient proximate cause doctrine, an interpretive rule for first-party insurance disputes.”

“The California Supreme Court and other California Appellate Courts have stated that efficient proximate cause doctrine is the ‘preferred method for resolving first party insurance disputes involving losses caused by multiple risks or perils, at least one of which is covered by insurance and one of which is not,'” the bulletin says.

According to DOI data, the Montecito mudslide in Santa Barbara County in January 2018 that followed the destructive Thomas Fire claimed 23 lives and caused more than $421 million in damage. Following that disaster, the governor enacted a new law to help prevent confusion about coverage following mudslides, the bulletin says.

“Many people may not be aware that commercial and homeowners insurance policies typically exclude flood, mudslide, debris flow, and other similar disasters unless they are directly or indirectly caused by a recent wildfire or another peril covered by the applicable insurance policy,” the release says.

A fact sheet from the DOI is available here that details what should be covered.

Images

Featured image: Stock photo of California fires in 2022. (Credit: Wirestock/iStock)