Wildfires: contamination standards.

The bill's stated health goal changed from preventing 'new cancer cases attributable to such fires' to reducing 'cancer cases and noncancer health risks attributable to such fires.' This appears in the bill summary, Section 13983, and Section 13984, broadening the scope of protected health outcomes beyond cancer.

New subsection (f) added to Section 13983 requiring emergency regulations to include 'guidance on methods and routines to reduce indoor exposure to the contamination of hazardous chemicals, or any residual contamination following remediation, resulting from a WUI fire.' This is a new obligation not present in the prior version.

Section 13984(b)(4)(C) now requires 'testing and health-based thresholds for known WUI fire hazards' instead of just 'testing for known WUI fire hazards.' The list of chemicals also changed from a closed list to an open one ('including, but not limited to'), giving the department flexibility to add additional chemicals.

Section 13984(b)(5) changed from requiring 'standards to ensure that a home, school, workplace, or other structure is safe to inhabit' to 'standards to ensure that individuals can inhabit a home, school, workplace, or other structure safely.' This shifts the focus from the condition of the structure to the safety of the person occupying it.

The definition of 'WUI impact zone' in Section 13980(k) was clarified to specify that the maximum fire perimeter is 'as determined and mapped by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection,' making the department's role in defining the zone more explicit.

Section 13984(b)(1) added the phrase 'and appropriate' after 'if applicable' when referencing adoption of nonemergency regulations, giving the department more discretion about whether to carry forward certain standards. Section 13983 also removed a redundant subsection that repeated the nonrebuttable presumption already stated in Section 13981.

The bill text was reformatted from a traditional legislative document style (with line numbers, page breaks, and centered headers) into a web-based publication layout that includes site navigation, search tools, and version history links. No policy language was altered.

Fixed a drafting error in Section 13981(a) where the text read 'The Department of Toxic Substances Control shall, department, in consultation with relevant coordinating agencies, shall' - now corrected to 'The department, in consultation with relevant coordinating agencies, shall'

Removed the extraneous word 'contaminants' from Section 13981(a), changing 'adequate removal of contaminants lead and TEM-identified asbestos' to 'adequate removal of lead and TEM-identified asbestos'

Corrected the legislative digest which contained a duplicated word ('workplaces workplaces') and an extraneous phrase ('removal of contaminants clearance' changed to simply 'clearance')

Updated the amendment date from March 2, 2026 to May 18, 2026, with the prior date retained as a secondary line

A new Section 13980 adds definitions for clearance, contamination, hazardous chemical, TEM-identified asbestos, WUI, WUI debris (listing specific substances including CAM 17 heavy metals, cyanide, lithium, manganese, dioxins, furans, PAHs, and VOCs), and WUI impact zone.

The bill's coverage expands from 'homes, schools, and workplaces' to 'homes, schools, workplaces, and other structures' throughout the text.

Assembly Member Patel is added as a coauthor.

The emergency regulations (due July 1, 2027) are narrowed in focus to specifically lead and TEM-identified asbestos rather than general contaminants, but gain much more prescriptive detail including specific numeric thresholds: lead at or below 5 micrograms per square foot on floors and 40 micrograms per square foot on window sills, and TEM-identified asbestos at or below one structure per square centimeter.

New Section 13982 mandates that emergency regulations include: a presumption that WUI debris contamination in the WUI impact zone is from the fire; minimum testing locations (indoor floors, window sills, interior horizontal hard surfaces, garage floors, attics, HVAC systems); conditions for testing behind drywall; preremediation and postremediation testing requirements; and reference to DTSC's Residential Soil Evaluation Guidance for the 2025 Los Angeles Wildfires.

Section 13983 requires standards ensuring structures are habitable to prefire conditions before residents are required to move back, and includes guidance on restoration strategies (repair or replacement) if remediation cannot achieve clearance.

New Section 13983 creates a second regulatory track requiring DTSC, in consultation with OEHHA, to adopt nonemergency regulations by July 1, 2028 specifying science-informed health-based standards for all hazardous chemicals, established at levels intended to ensure safe reoccupancy and prevent new cancer cases attributable to WUI fires.

The urgency clause was removed entirely. The bill no longer takes effect immediately upon passage and now requires only a simple majority vote instead of a two-thirds supermajority.

Section 13981(b) provides that once DTSC adopts nonemergency regulations with stricter lead and asbestos standards through regular rulemaking, the statutory presumption in Section 13981 becomes inoperative, creating a built-in sunset for the interim statutory standard.

A new Section 13981 establishes a nonrebuttable statutory presumption that a structure is safe for occupancy only if indoor lead levels are at or below 5 micrograms per square foot on floors and 40 micrograms per square foot on window sills, and TEM-identified asbestos is at or below one structure per square centimeter. This was previously only a requirement within emergency regulations.

The presumption that hazardous contamination in the WUI impact zone is caused by the fire was changed from nonrebuttable to rebuttable, meaning parties can now present evidence to challenge the causal link between a specific wildfire and contamination found in a structure.

A new Section 13985 requires DTSC to determine the downwind ash zone for each WUI fire using NOAA methodologies and data sources (including maps) within 45 days of the wildfire reaching 100 percent containment.

A new definition of 'downwind ash zone' was added (Section 13980(d)), defined as the geographic area downwind from the burn perimeter that DTSC determines is reasonably likely to have received wind-carried ash, soot, char, or other WUI debris.

The definition of 'hazardous chemical' in Section 13980(d) was changed from being determined 'by a local health officer or the department' to being determined solely 'by the department.' This removes local health officers' authority to classify chemicals as hazardous under this act and consolidates that power with DTSC.

The vote requirement in the digest was clarified from '2/3' to '2/3 majority.' No substantive change in meaning.