CALIFORNIA BILL PROVIDING TAX BREAKS TO FIRE VICTIMS

The Assembly Committee on Revenue & Taxation recently passed AB 1249, Assemblyman James Gallagher’s (R-Yuba City) legislation that would provide financial relief to wildfire victims by exempting them from paying state taxes on settlement payments made out of PG&E’s “Fire Victims Trust”. 

Gallagher said, “AB 1249 is a straightforward fix that would clarify state tax exemption criteria for victims of three of the most destructive fires in California’s history. Victims deserve to receive the maximum amount of compensation possible from PG&E, especially in light of recent reports that the trust might not be able to pay victims the full settlement amounts they were originally promised.”

PG&E’s “Fire Victims Trust” was created to compensate victims of the 2015 (Butte), 2017 (North Bay) and 2018 (Camp) wildfires. AB 1249 would clarify California’s tax code to allow all types of filers to be excluded from paying state taxes on advance settlements paid out of the trust.

The bill now moves to the Assembly Appropriations Committee for a hearing later this month.

AB 1249 is co-authored by Senator Jim Nielsen (R-Tehama), Senator Bill Dodd (D-Napa), Senator Brian Dahle (R-Bieber), Assemblyman Frank Bigelow (R-Madera), Assemblywoman Megan Dahle (R-Bieber) and Assemblymember Marc Levine (D-San Rafael).