A bill that aimed to streamline and coordinate wildfire recovery across Los Angeles County will not move forward this year, following a tense committee hearing and calls for more community input from local officials and fire survivors.
Senator Ben Allen said Wednesday that he will pause Senate Bill 549 until 2026, acknowledging concerns over governance, transparency and local control. The legislation, which was originally designed to tweak a financing mechanism for affordable housing and transit projects, was amended in recent weeks to include a sweeping proposal for a new Resilient Rebuilding Authority to assist communities impacted by the January 2025 wildfires.
“When we first introduced SB 549, we knew that it would be difficult to pull together a framework that would be both effective and gain widespread support within the tight timelines of this year’s legislative calendar,” Allen said in a statement after the hearing. “For me to feel comfortable proceeding, the bill will have to be deeply grounded in community input, empowerment and decision-making, including the support of the impacted Councilmembers.”
The hearing highlighted tensions between the urgent need to accelerate rebuilding and the unease many residents feel about the role of government in that process. While several speakers praised the potential benefits of the proposal, others warned that affected communities felt left out.
Allen, whose district includes Pacific Palisades, emphasized that the bill’s two parts, the so-called NIFTI-2 fix and the rebuilding authority, are not connected. “It wouldn’t make sense to try to form an authority using NIFTI-2’s requirements,” he said, noting that confusion around the bill’s structure had fueled public skepticism.
The first section of SB 549 aimed to revise the Second Neighborhood Infill Finance and Transit Improvements Act (NIFTI-2), a rarely used tool that allows cities and counties to establish enhanced infrastructure financing districts. Allen described the changes as technical, removing the sales tax increment provision and loosening boundary restrictions that have made the program difficult to implement.
The second, more controversial section proposed allowing Los Angeles County to establish a Resilient Rebuilding Authority to manage post-fire recovery. The concept was based on recommendations issued just weeks ago by the county’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Climate Action and Fire Safe Recovery.
Aaron Ordower, environment deputy for Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, told the committee that the January fires destroyed more than 16,000 structures and caused an estimated $250 billion in damage. “This approach has been successful to accelerate recovery from major disasters like the Northridge earthquake, Hurricane Katrina and 9/11,” he said. “It will give local governments the chance to rebuild faster and meet the crisis.”
Urban planning expert Lori Johnson, who served on the Blue Ribbon Commission, said past disasters had shown the value of centralized recovery agencies with redevelopment powers. She cited examples ranging from the LA riots to New Zealand’s earthquake response. “There’s almost half a billion in philanthropic funds waiting to be invested in this area,” she said, arguing that a unified framework would attract and manage those dollars more effectively.
But not everyone was on board. Andrew Antwih, a representative from the office of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, said the city opposed the bill in its current form and urged more time for consensus-building. “When you’re forming an entity like this, you want buy-in from as many local jurisdictions as possible,” he said. “We think that more time should be allowed.”
Assemblymember Matt Haney commended Allen’s candor but questioned whether rushing ahead would risk undermining community trust. “What’s the harm in waiting two years?” he asked. “These are still just concepts and we haven’t seen amendments yet.”
Allen acknowledged the challenges, noting he was in ongoing talks with Councilmember Traci Park, who represents Pacific Palisades. “She was nervous about the framing of the bill,” he said. “I’ve assured her we’re not going to ram this down her throat.” He added that her support would be a prerequisite for moving forward.
Assemblymember Mia Bonta voiced concern over potential gaps in public participation. “I’m big about doing things with the community, not to the community,” she said, citing fire survivor Shauna Dawson’s earlier testimony in opposition.
The committee ultimately advanced the bill on a divided vote, with several members indicating they might not support it on the floor without major changes. Allen signaled he would not pursue the legislation further this year unless consensus could be built over the summer.
“I don’t know where this goes,” Allen told the committee. “If we cannot get to a good enough kind of accord by the time we come back from break, I’m comfortable making it a two-year bill.”
