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Padilla hopes to increase firefighter pay, create affordable housing for disaster response – Jobsmaa.com

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As firefighters continue to battle Los Angeles County fires, California Sen. Alex Padilla introduces a package of bills to increase their wages and build housing for disaster victims.

“Like firefighters putting out fires right now, we have to work together in our response and our recovery,” Padilla told The Times in an interview in his U.S. Senate office.

His proposal, The Disaster Housing Reform Act for American FamiliesTwo of California's top priorities: wildfire relief and affordable housing.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will provide temporary housing, such as trailers, to thousands of people who lost their homes in the wildfires. He is Sen. Padilla's bill, co-sponsored with Bill Cassidy (R-La.), would require the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to quickly build long-term, affordable functional housing. Housing.

“We can be a little smarter about it and allow the use of modular homes, manufactured homes, which themselves are a little more stable, more resilient,” he said. “When the disaster is over and people go back to their communities, we can take advantage of them and retain them locally for affordable housing.”

The move could serve as “another tool in the toolbox,” Padilla said, adding that some landlords are already raising prices in the wake of the fire.

Another move, the Fire Prevention and Response Fund Guarantee ActExpand funding from FEMA for fire extinguishers placed before a disaster. The bill would allow FEMA to include more of those resources in times of high wildfire risk before a disaster strikes.

“In California, we know when it's hot and dry and windy, that's a recipe for disaster. So we can expect those conditions. “Let's start putting in personnel and equipment,” Padilla said, as he checked the fire's progress. WatchDuty app hour. “If we can ensure that the program takes at least 75%, with less concern for the budget, that's a big incentive for state and local governments to do it.”

Padilla recalled a 1996 trip with former FEMA director the late U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) as a staffer to survey wildfire damage. Chiefs have since learned more about fire prevention techniques, such as building with fireproof materials and clearing brush from homes.

Padilla also brings it back Wildland Firefighter Paycheck Protection ActHe has not voted to raise pay for federal firefighters since he introduced it during the last Congress, including premium pay for those fighting longer fires. Firefighter wages have been subject to legislation in the past few years, as President Biden raised the minimum wage for wildland firefighters from $13 to $15 an hour in 2021. It promises to pay more.

According to US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Federal firefighters make, on average, slightly less than state or local firefighters. California unsurprisingly has the most firefighters of any state, and also offers the best pay. In a 2019 study by the BLS, California paid a median annual salary of $84,370.

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