California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a bill Thursday providing $2.5 billion for wildfire relief, but nearly all of the money will go to emergency response and only a portion to rebuilding. Not too much.
According to figures from the governor's own press release, $4 million is set aside to “accelerate rebuilding” by streamlining the permitting process and $1 million for school reconstruction (emphasis in original).
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$2.5 billion to speed fire storm initial response and recovery efforts. This includes support for:
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Emergency protection measures, evacuation, evacuation of survivors, debris removal and cleanup, post-fire hazard assessment (such as flash floods and debris flows), traffic control, and other necessary emergency response activities.
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$4 million to promote reconstruction. The Department of Housing and Community Development will allocate this funding to affected local governments to provide additional plan review and building inspection resources to expedite building approvals during the recovery period.
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$1 million to rebuild school facilities damaged by fire. This funding will provide technical assistance to affected local education agencies (Los Angeles Unified School District, Pasadena Unified School District, and affected charter schools).
In the Pacific Palisades, Marquez Charter School was gutted, and several other public and private schools were also damaged or destroyed.
With the fires still raging, Newsom and the Democratic-controlled Congress reached an agreement to allocate $50 million to fight President Donald Trump's policies.
Joel B. Pollack is a senior editor at Breitbart News. Breitbart News Sunday Sunday nights from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM ET (4:00 PM to 7:00 PM PT) on Sirius XM Patriot. he is the author of Agenda: What should President Trump do in his first 100 days?available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of Trumpian Virtues: Lessons and Legacy of the Donald Trump Presidencynow available on Audible. He is the recipient of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter @joelpolak.
