Mayor Bass Leads Delegation to Sacramento to Advocate for Key Palisades Recovery Priorities: Holding Insurers Accountable, Extending Mortgage Relief, and Continued State Investment

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SACRAMENTO - Mayor Karen Bass today led a delegation to Sacramento alongside Councilmember Traci Park and a dozen Palisades residents to advocate for key priorities related to the ongoing wildfire recovery effort in Pacific Palisades. Photos and b-roll available here.

Holding Insurers Accountable

While hundreds of homes have started construction, one of the biggest hurdles Palisades residents continue to face are delays, underpayments, and denials from the core institution meant to help them recover: the insurance industry.

The delegation discussed a number of important reforms and protections for wildfire survivors, including:

• Ending the "Adjuster Shuffle"- Survivors report multiple adjusters cycling through a claim, causing significant delays and often valuing losses at differing amounts.

• Combating Loss Undervaluation- A Federal Reserve study found California wildfire survivors are underpaid by $200,000-$300,000 on average, with insurers providing low estimates for both remediation and rebuilding - a fraction of what contractors quote for the work - or insisting red-tagged homes can be repaired.

• Mandating Toxic Substance Testing and Remediation- Insurers reportedly refuse to cover the cost of testing for toxins, such as lead, in smoke-damaged but structurally intact homes.

Mortgage Relief for Impacted Homeowners
Homeowners have reported that major banks, mortgage lenders, and regional servicers continue to deny forbearance requests, demand lump sum repayments, and report borrowers to credit bureaus, laying bare the need for greater enforcement ofAB 238 - the Mortgage Forbearance Act - and additional reforms to support survivors. Most critically, survivors need extended forbearance beyond existing timelines and state-level protections against lump sum demands.

In November, Mayor Bass called on banks and mortgage servicersto voluntarily extend mortgage payment relief for homeowners still recovering from the January wildfires, calling for three additional years of payment relief beyond the one year that is provided under state law.

Continued State Investment
The delegation also advocated for continued State funding to close the gap between insurance proceeds and the cost of rebuilding and to support long-term recovery and resilience.

"Recovery should never feel harder than the disaster itself, but for so many Palisades residents, delays, underpayments, and denials from insurers and ongoing mortgage payments are making it impossible to rebuild," said Mayor Bass. "I organized today's delegation to ensure State legislators and officials from the Department of Insurance heard directly from Palisades survivors about what they need - and deserve - to rebuild and return home. The Palisades community deserves stronger enforcement and economic support from the State to meet the scale of this disaster, and I look forward to continuing to work with the partners we met with today to ensure survivors get the support they need to rebuild safely."

"The scale of this recovery requires strong state partnership," said Councilmember Traci Park."From infrastructure repairs to insurance reform, we're here to push for solutions that allow families to rebuild faster - before delays turn into displacement."

"Today we went to Sacramento with Councilmember Traci Park and Mayor Bass to advocate for the Palisades community," said Allison Holdorff Polhill, Alphabets resident and LAUSD Senior Advisor to Board Member Nick Melvoin."Pressure points included insurance and guidelines for home hardening, mortgage relief, and State investments in rebuilding. With our California Fair Plan funds, we are rebuilding and fire hardening our home, with the hope of it being insured."

"Today's meetings reinforced that there is real momentum and shared urgency around delivering meaningful mortgage relief for families impacted by the fires," said Rachel Jonas, Palisades resident. "We're encouraged by the level of engagement and support, and we'll keep pushing until homeowners have the certainty and stability they need to recover."

"Mayor Bass and Councilmember Park have been very supportive of fire survivors," said Roseanne Landay, a 30-year Palisades resident who lost her condo in the Palisades Fire. "I am hopeful that today's trip to Sacramento speaking to State legislators will bring some relief to my community. Recovery, however, has to be a multi-partner solution and we need all levels of government to work together to help us return home."

"This delegation to Sacramento was a meaningful opportunity to communicate the persistent and systemic challenges faced by Palisadians to the leaders of state government," said Timothy Schneider, Palisades resident."Even though we're thirteen months out from the fire, many of us are still fighting for fair insurance settlements, proper environmental testing and continued mortgage forbearance. Reminding our state leaders what we're confronting helps keep these issues front and center in Sacramento."

The delegation met with more than a dozen State legislators and officials, including:

• Speaker of the Assembly Robert Rivas

• Senate President pro Tempore Monique Limón

• Senator Steve Padilla, Chair of the Senate Insurance Committee

• Assemblymember Tina McKinnor, Chair of the L.A. County Legislative Delegation

• Senator Maria Elena Durazo, Vice Chair of the L.A. County Legislative Delegation

• State Senator Ben Allen and Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin

• Senator Sasha Renée Pérez

• Representatives from Governor Gavin Newsom's Office

• Representatives from the California Department of Insurance

• Representatives from Assemblymember Lisa Calderon's Office, Chair of the Assembly Insurance Committee

• Other legislators from the L.A. County Legislative delegation