AB 1642 is moving — and we need your support!
The Wildfire Environmental Safety and Testing Act would establish California's first-ever mandatory, health-based standards for testing lead, asbestos, and toxic chemicals in wildfire-impacted homes, schools, and workplaces.
Right now, no such standards exist. Families are returning to homes that haven't been properly cleared. Our data shows 6 out of 10 professionally remediated homes are still not safe due to lead and/or asbestos.
AB 1642 changes that.
We passed the Assembly Environmental Safety & Toxic Materials Committee.
Next up: Assembly Appropriations Committee — May 14, 2026.
Every WUI fire survivor deserves a safe return, rebuild, and recovery. Add your name to our growing coalition of 600+ individuals and 80+ organizations.
Support survivors and add your name today at www.efru.la/ab1642
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS: Protect yourself and your family!
If your home survived the Eaton Fire, you have rights – and there are critical actions you must take NOW.
HOMEOWNERS: File an insurance claim by January 6, 2026! Your insurance company is responsible for restoring your home to pre-fire conditions. That means:
*Pre-remediation testing
*Licensed professional remediation
*Post-remediation testing to confirm clearance
*Written verification of safety
Don’t move back until your home is PROVEN safe! Multiple rounds of remediation may be needed to confirm clearance.
RENTERS: You have rights under Senate Bill 610 and the LA County Rental Housing Habitability Program (RHHP)! Your landlord must test and remediate all living spaces, restore
your home to habitability, and provide written documentation confirming clearance. This includes attics, insulation, HVAC, and ductwork. Demand to see post-remediation test results before moving in! Report concerns to 880-700-9995 or [email protected].
INSURANCE PROBLEMS? You’re not alone. Many residents reported denied testing and pressure to return home before clearance. File a complaint at www.insurance.ca.gov.
WE DEMAND: CLEARANCE BEFORE OCCUPANCY
Insurance companies must cover temporary housing until homes pass comprehensive post-remediation testing. A clean-looking home isn’t necessarily a safe home.
*View our contamination maps: www.efru.la
*Add your remediation test data to our maps: www.efru.la/share-testing
*Questions? Need Support? [email protected]
EFRU works in collaboration with experts from Purdue, Caltech, UCLA, Harvard, UCLA, USC, and Chapman University. Together, we're protecting families, demanding accountability, and driving recovery.
#ClearanceBeforeOccupancy #EatonFire #EFRU #Altadena #Pasadena #SierraMadre #WildfireRecovery #PublicHealth #EnvironmentalJustice #LeadPoisoning #AsbestosAwareness
#ToxicExposure #IndoorAirQuality #CommunityHealth #InsuranceAccountability
✅ IT PASSED! AB 1642 is moving to the Assembly Floor!
Yesterday, AB 1642 — the Wildfire Environmental Safety and Testing Act — passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
This is a major milestone and it happened because of this community. Your stories. Your signatures. Your voices in Sacramento.
AB 1642 would establish California's first mandatory, health-based standards for determining when a wildfire-impacted home, school, or workplace is safe to reoccupy. No more patchwork assessments. Science sets the standard.
The Assembly Floor vote is expected the week of May 25th. That means we have one week to make sure every Assembly member hears from their constituents.
Here's what you can do right now:
👉 Share this post
👉 Urge your Assembly Member to vote YES on AB 1642
👉 Visit www.efru.la/ab1642 for more information
Every voice matters. Every share matters. Every WUI fire survivor deserves a safe return, rebuild, and recovery. #ClearanceBeforeOccupancy
After a wildfire, “it’s safe to go back” can be said long before it’s actually true.
AB 1642 forces California to back that claim with one real health standard for testing and cleanup, so families are not walking back into uncertainty, only into spaces that have actually been cleared to be safe by the experts. #AD41 #EatonFire #Harabedian #Altadena
IT PASSED!! AB 1642 has cleared the Assembly Appropriations Committee and is heading to the Assembly Floor.
This is a major milestone — and it happened because of this community.
AB 1642, authored by @ASMHarabedian would establish California's first mandatory, health-based standards for determining when a wildfire-impacted home, school, or workplace is safe to reoccupy. No more patchwork assessments. Science sets the standard.
As Assemblymember Harabedian said today:
"Families deserve clear, reliable answers about whether their homes are safe. This bill ensures those decisions are grounded in science and public health."
We agree. But the fight isn't over. AB 1642 now heads to a full Assembly Floor vote. Every voice still matters.
Add your name in support of AB 1642 today → www.efru.la/ab1642
FIRE SURVIVORS✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽it’s been 15 months after the Eaton Fire, too many of our neighbors are still not home.
Ahead of the Governor Newsom’s May Budget Revise, survivors are coming together to ask a simple question:
Where did the wildfire recovery money go and why are communities still struggling to recover?
Bring your voice. Bring your neighbors. Recovery isn’t over.
42 E Manor St Altadena, CA
Thursday May 14th 9AM @naacppasadenabranch1054@pasadenajobcenter@daylaborernetwork@chirla_org@mytriberise@efru.la@eatonfirecollaborative@altadenarising
“My family won't move back until we know it is safe."
Those are the words of Caltech geochemist and Eaton Fire survivor Professor François Tissot, writing in the Sacramento Bee.
In this op-ed, Prof. Tissot makes the case for why AB 1642 matters: California has no standards requiring anyone to test for heavy metals after a WUI fire. Families are left fighting their insurers just to find out if their home is safe to return to. AB 1642 would require mandatory testing, science-based safety limits, and insurance accountability for every family impacted by a WUI fire.
California's fires have changed. It's time our policies do too. Link to full Op-Ed in bio.
EFRU needs your support! Add your name in support of AB 1642 today → www.efru.la/ab1642
"I am certain we all inhaled lots of toxic substances."
Sarai, an Eaton Fire survivor in Sierra Madre, shared her story with us. When the fire happened, she and her husband came home with their toddler and two dogs — because so little information was known at the time. They left when the headaches started. When their eyes burned. When the smell wouldn't go away.
They cleaned their home. They got it tested. It came back okay.
A year later, they found ash sitting in a garage they rarely use. They got it tested. Lead at high levels. Positive for arsenic. Positive for beryllium.
"It makes me wonder who else might have toxic ash in corners of their garages or homes."
Her home tested okay, but she still found contamination a year later in a corner she almost didn't check. How many families haven't checked those corners? How many people are living with toxic ash that was never found, because remediation protocols don’t require thorough testing before or after cleanup?
"It honestly leaves me feeling like we shouldn't live around here anymore."
No family should feel that way in their own home. AB 1642 establishes mandatory, science-based testing standards so that families have real information, not just hope, about whether their home is safe.
We need your support! Add your name in support of AB 1642 today → www.efru.la/ab1642
Wednesday, May 6th: the Appropriations Committee meets today. Please join us in supporting AB 1642 and opposing AB 1795 as written. We want safe returns for any and all Californians experiencing (or yet to experience) fire.
