Los Angeles County wildfire victims seeking federal assistance and those who encounter price gouging from landlords and others looking to take advantage of their situations may get some additional protections if two proposed House bills become law.
Both bills were announced Thursday, March 20, by freshman Rep. Laura Friedman, D-Glendale, whose 30th Congressional district was the site of the Sunset fire, one of several wildfires that broke out across L.A. County in January.
The first bill, called the Don’t Penalize Victims Act, would amend an existing law so that victims of natural disasters won’t have the amount of Federal Emergency Management Agency aid that they normally would qualify for be reduced – or denied altogether – because they previously received financial assistance from GoFundMe donors or from faith-based organizations.
Current law prohibits FEMA from providing financial support to disaster victims who previously received similar help from individual charitable donations or faith-based groups.
The reason is that FEMA considers those previous donations a duplication of benefits.
Friedman’s bill would clarify that aid that disaster victims receive from sources other than insurance companies would not count as a duplication of benefits.
“The bill that we are introducing today is a common sense measure to cut that red tape and to bring clarity to this process and to basically say, ‘Federal Government, keep your hands out of those GoFundMe accounts. Allow people in their community to help their neighbors without penalizing those victims again,’” Friedman said during a press conference at Runyon Canyon Park in the Hollywood Hills, an area where the burn scar from the Sunset fire can still be seen.
The Don’t Penalize Victims Act was co-introduced by Republican Rep. Mike Ezell of Mississippi. Because there is bipartisan support, Friedman said she’s hoping Congress will approve the bill quickly.
Speakers at Thursday’s news conference said they’ve consistently heard reports of L.A. wildfire victims having their FEMA grants reduced or denied. Often, they said, the amount that individuals receive from FEMA isn’t enough to make a homeowner or renter whole anyway, and they continue to require additional aid.
Altadena Town Councilmember Dot Wong said friends created a GoFundMe account for her and her husband after they lost their home in the Eaton fire, only to learn later that it affected how much they could collect from FEMA.
Wong said her husband is a craftsman who lost his tools in the fire, thus impacting his ability to work now. Similarly, she lost much of the teaching materials or tools she uses as an educator.
“No one should have to choose between accepting help from their community and qualifying for aid that we really need and we’re entitled to,” Wong said.
In addition to the first bill, Friedman on Thursday announced a second bill she’s been working on, called the Stop Disaster Price Gouging Act.
The bill would protect individuals from landlords and others seeking to profit from disaster victims by excessively raising the prices on housing units, construction materials or other essential items after a federally-declared disaster. Violators would be fined $25,000, with the money going directly to support disaster victims.
The bill would also empower victims and state attorneys general to take legal action in such cases.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, about a week after the January fires broke out, warned price gougers that they would be “held accountable” for such crimes. The L.A. County Board of Supervisors also recently raised the penalty for price gougers to a maximum of $50,000 per violation.
Friedman said there’s currently no co-sponsor for her second bill, but she’s hoping it, too, will gain bipartisan support.
Friedman said her two bills are intended to make sure the government is working for the people when they need it.
The Palisades and Eaton fires in January destroyed or damaged over 16,000 homes or other structures and killed 29 people. Although government agencies have taken action to expedite rebuilding efforts, the road to recovery for the communities hardest hit by these two fires are still expected to be difficult.
“No one should be punished for surviving a disaster,” Friedman said. “We have way too many people in Los Angeles who need help, and it’s up to the government to make sure that government works well.”