A California lawmaker is calling for serious changes to happen in wildfire combat and prevention.Â
“There’s a lot of similarities. And that’s kind of part of the issue here, that I don’t know that we really learn the lessons of the past,” Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher told Fox News Digital.
Gallagher was describing the 2019 Paradise fire that struck his district and said a lot more needs to be done to combat and prevent catastrophic wildfires across the Golden State.
“It’s the same type of catastrophic wind-driven fire. We still see movement of dead and dying timber and underbrush on federal land, in that case, decimated a whole community,” Gallagher said.
A lot of misinformation out there. The TRUTH: CA did NOT cut our firefighting budget. We have nearly doubled the size of our firefighting army and built the world’s largest aerial firefighting fleet. CA has INCREASED forest management ten-fold since we took office,” Newsom wrote in a post on X.Â
Republican Senator Brian Dahle claimed that Newsom had turned his back on the residents of California when he vetoed a bill aimed at protecting fire victims, which Newsom disputes.Â
“Friendly reminder: Newsom turned his back on wildfire victims by vetoing my bill, SB 542 — the measure would’ve excluded settlement payments awarded to victims of the 2022 Mill Fire & 2021 Dixie Fire from being subject to income taxes. I bet he plans on TAXING SoCal residents on their settlement payments too!”Â
Newsom’s office argued that he “wholeheartedly supports the intent of these bills.”Â
“In 2022, I signed legislation that provided similar tax exclusions for settlement claims resulting from catastrophic wildfires that occurred in the preceding five years. In signing those bills, I stated future measures, like these bills, should be included as part of the annual budget process given the General Fund implications. The following year, the Legislature enacted an income tax exclusion for an additional wildfire in the 2023-24 Budget Act. As such, I strongly encourage the Legislature to include these proposals in next year’s budget framework,” Newsom wrote in a previous letter sent to the California State Senate.
Newsom also received backlash from several lawmakers after he called a “special session” to “Trump-proof” the state for when President-elect Trump is inaugurated and then added wildfire relief to the agenda. Â
“Officially done with the political games on the fires. It is wrong to suggest putting strings on federal disaster relief,” Assemblymember Greg Wallis, a Republican, wrote in a post on X.
“It is wrong to tie fire relief funds to the partisan ‘Trump-proofing’ California special session funding bill. No strings. Let’s focus on helping the victims and getting desperately-needed relief funds to victims.”Â
Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones, also a Republican, echoed Wallis calling Newsom’s special session “insulting.”
“Democrat lawmakers appear to be at odds with each other over Newsom’s insulting special session, which lumps together critical emergency funding for the LA fires with $50 million in politically motivated funding to sue Trump,” Jones wrote in a post on X.
“I strongly urge my Democrat colleagues to rise above Newsom’s divisive political agenda and focus solely on disaster relief. That $50 million would be far better spent helping fire victims recover and rebuild. Drop the political angles and conditions on aid—fire victims deserve a response that is respectful and non-partisan,” Jones continued.Â
The special session was initially scheduled to take place on Tuesday, but it was canceled due to the ongoing threat of wildfires.
Fox News Digital’s Charles Creitz contributed to this report.Â
Stepheny Price is writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. Story tips and ideas can be sent to [email protected]
