California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a bill Thursday providing $2.5 billion dollars in relief for the wildfires — though almost all of the money will go to emergency response, and only a tiny fraction is earmarked for rebuilding.
There is $4 million to “expedite rebuilding” by streamlining permitting processes, and $1 million for rebuilding schools, according to figures in the governor’s own press release (original emphasis):
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$2.5 billion to expedite initial firestorm response and recovery efforts. This includes support for:
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Emergency protective measures, evacuations, sheltering for survivors, debris removal and cleanup, post-fire hazard assessments (such as flash flooding and debris flows), traffic control, and other necessary emergency response activities.
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$4 million to help expedite rebuilding. The Department of Housing and Community Development will allocate this funding to impacted local governments to provide additional planning review and building inspection resources for the purpose of expediting building approvals during the recovery period.
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$1 million to rebuild fire-damaged school facilities. The funding will provide technical assistance to impacted local educational agencies (Los Angeles Unified School District, Pasadena Unified School District, impacted charter schools).
Marquez Charter School burned down completely in Pacific Palisades, and several other schools, public and private, were damaged or destroyed.
With the fires still raging, Newsom and the Democrat-controlled legislature reached a deal to allocate $50 million to oppose President Donald Trump’s policies.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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