El Niño is Coming. Californians Still Need Better Tools to Recover from Disaster.

AB 2385 would have helped local governments prepare for disaster recovery, but the bill failed to make it out of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Last week, AB 2385 (Petrie-Norris) died in the California Senate Appropriations Committee. Its demise is the latest frustration in the long saga to rebuild from the terrible January 2025 Los Angeles fires—and to apply some lessons learned about disaster recovery in the process.

I’ve had a front row seat, as both an Angeleno and a co-leader of the UCLA research team that supported the Blue Ribbon Commission convened by County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath to offer recovery recommendations, to the serious struggles local governments face when disaster strikes. As I wrote last year, among the many roadblocks to effective disaster recovery is a drafting wrinkle in state law that keeps local governments from effectively pre-planning for disaster recovery so that effective tools are at the ready when a disaster occurs. Here in Los Angeles, we found ourselves having to struggle to build a recovery infrastructure while responding to the disaster in real time. Local governments shouldn’t have to do that.

One of the core recommendations to come out of the Blue Ribbon Commission was the need for a centralized, accountable disaster recovery hub in Los Angeles. Survivors didn’t—and still don’t—know where to turn as they navigate challenging rebuilding dynamics. The end result has been a decidedly inequitable recovery, with wildly different outcomes depending on an individual’s personal resources. Efforts to create a recovery hub for Los Angeles stalled in the California Legislature last year; Los Angeles County is now moving forward with the concept at a smaller scale. But I often think about how different things could have been if Los Angeles had already had the tools to coordinate recovery in January 2025.

AB 2385 would have created those tools, closing a longstanding drafting loophole and specifying the powers local governments could house in a recovery hub. In recognition that jurisdictions throughout the state are differently resourced and face different issues in recovery, it would have provided some state guidance to help locals think through disaster recovery planning. Assisting Assemblymember Petrie-Norris’ office with the bill, I was pleased to see members in both houses of the Legislature recognize the need for these tools and thank her for her efforts to create them.

That kind of forward-thinking policy is exactly what Californians need—because more disasters are on the way. A stronger-than-usual El Niño is already forecast for this winter, and we know we haven’t seen the last of megafires or the disaster California’s known for the world over: earthquakes. Ultimately, AB 2385 lost out in a sea of competing budget priorities for the state this year. But local governments should nonetheless do what they can (and they can still do a lot!) to plan for disaster beforehand.

While state guidance would have helped, locals still have the power to initiate disaster recovery planning processes on their own. Cities and counties can think internally about what successful recovery means and harmonize their General Plans with that vision. They can move beyond existing disaster response plans to pre-designate a structure for coordinating rebuilding. Regional planning entities can convene local governments to talk recovery coordination, particularly in regions where a major disaster is likely to affect multiple jurisdictions concurrently. And locals can work together to create joint recovery structures using existing tools like Joint Powers Agreements and Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Districts. None of this work will be as streamlined as the process and powers AB 2385 would have created (so locals should start now!), but it would still do a lot of good. Being proactive will save time, money, and most importantly, communities.

That California communities will have to recover from disasters in the future is an inevitability. But disjointed, inequitable recovery doesn’t have to be.

AB 2385, Blue Ribbon Commission, rebuilding, wildfire