State of emergency and local emergency: landslides and climate change.

Assembly Member Muratsuchi's proposal to expand California's emergency declaration criteria would add landslides and climate change-exacerbated conditions to the state's official list of qualifying emergencies under the California Emergency Services Act.

The legislation modifies the definitions of both state and local emergencies to incorporate these additional triggers alongside existing conditions like fires, floods, and earthquakes. For state-level declarations, the Governor could proclaim an emergency when landslides or worsening climate conditions create disaster scenarios beyond individual counties' response capabilities. Similarly, local officials could declare emergencies when these circumstances overwhelm city or county resources and require mutual aid.

The bill maintains current provisions regarding utility deenergization events, explicitly stating that local emergency declarations stemming from power shutoffs would not trigger additional obligations for electric utilities under Public Utilities Commission Decision 19-07-015 or alter existing cost recovery mechanisms. This preserves the regulatory framework governing utilities' responsibilities during intentional outages while allowing local authorities to respond to associated public safety needs.