News

Jan 20, 2024

Editorial

Better late than never. The announcement earlier this week that the state of

Better late than never.

The announcement earlier this week that the state of California will provide financial help to victims of the March flooding in Pajaro was not the "rapid response" Gov. Gavin Newsom had earlier promised, but it is a response and it should provide help to people who fall below the requirements for federal emergency aid.The key will be getting these folks, many of whom are undocumented farmworkers, signed up.

The announcement comes two months after Newsom promised flood victims that help would come from the state's Rapid Response Fund. Since then his office provided few details about aid despite repeated queries from journalists and local organizations.

Responding to criticism that this aid is coming late, an administration spokesman told reporters that the state was trying to ensure that the program was sufficiently vetted to prevent the kinds of fraud seen during the COVID-19 pandemic and that money will go to people who are hard to reach. In that light, the response fund was renamed the "Storm Assistance for Immigrants Project."

To get this aid, applicants will need to prove they were impacted by the series of storms that began in late December, and that they are not eligible for individual assistance from FEMA. Qualifying individuals can receive $1,500 each and, with children also receiving aid, up to $4,500 a household. The money will be available until May 2024, or until it runs out.

The Newsom administration made it a point to say the program is aimed at people who otherwise would be reluctant to seek public benefits for fear it will affect their immigration status, or because they move around to different areas, depending on farm work. Undocumented workers are, by law, ineligible for federally funded programs such as unemployment benefits or FEMA disaster aid.

The funding will be handled through as-yet unnamed nonprofit agencies, many of which stepped in during the critical month after Pajaro flooded to help provide emergency supplies and shelter. The nonprofit organizations will interview applicants in person "to minimize the risk of fraud," according to state officials.Hopefully, this aid will be quickly dispersed. Any more delays are unacceptable and would be yet another catastrophe for people who pick our crops and already were facing limits on work because of flooded ag lands.

But as local officials have noted since the recent storms, emergency assistance can take time and many who think they qualify haven't gotten it yet.

Nearly three months after a Pajaro River levee breached and flooded the unincorporated town of Pajaro, FEMA records show that only 35% of applicants from Santa Cruz and Monterey counties for federal aid after the December and January storms had been approved by May 30 for assistance. The deadline for applying for FEMA assistance related to the storms is June 5.

Monterey County Supervisor Luis Alejo told CalMatters he supports pending legislation that would establish a grant program to financially assist local agencies, community-based organizations and individuals affected by the recent disasters. The bill faces a vote in the Assembly this week and requires two-thirds approval to pass.

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Another state government bottleneck was invoked this week when State Farm Insurance said it would stop selling new home insurance policies in California. State Farm is only the latest insurance firm to say they’re pulling out of California. Insurers have cited the high costs of rebuilding, increasingly severe wildfires (and now floods) and the failure to get increases in insurance premiums approved, or denied, by the state's elected insurance commissioner, Ricardo Lara. Insurance companies say Lara's office won't allow them to set prices that reflect their costs in fire-prone areas.

Existing policyholders should not be affected by this move, but Lara isn't helping Californians by decisions that reduce competition and force more customers into the state-established insurer of last resort, which, correspondingly, is backed by insurers and provides skimpier and more expensive coverage.

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