{"id":53830,"date":"2017-12-27T16:06:01","date_gmt":"2017-12-27T23:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/?p=53830"},"modified":"2017-12-27T16:06:01","modified_gmt":"2017-12-27T23:06:01","slug":"house-passes-ruiz-wildfire-funding-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/2017\/12\/27\/house-passes-ruiz-wildfire-funding-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"House passes Ruiz wildfire funding bill"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Congressman Dr. Raul Ruiz (D-36), right, talks with San Jacinto Ranger District Fire Chief Dan Felix about the Mountain Fire. Photo by J.P. Crumrine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

U.S. Representative Dr. Raul Ruiz\u2019s widlfire funding bill passed the House of Representatives (251-169) before the holiday recess. Ruiz\u2019s bill, which would change the way Congress funds the expenses to fight wildfires, was part of the $81 billion disaster-aid bill.<\/p>\n

This includes funds for victims of recent fires in both Northern and Southern California, as well as traditional natural disasters such as hurricanes.<\/p>\n

The Senate is expected to vote on the bill after it reconvenes in January.<\/p>\n

After the House passage of his proposal, Ruiz said, \u201cMr. Speaker, right now my home state\u00a0of California is ablaze. And the\u00a0communities of Idyllwild, Anza, and Mountain Center in my district are\u00a0still bruised from the 2013\u00a0wildfires and are on high alert\u00a0for the next fire.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday we passed my bill and\u00a0delivered a win for\u00a0firefighters and victims of\u00a0fires by increasing federal\u00a0funding to recover, rebuild,\u00a0prevent future fires and keep\u00a0communities safe,\u201d he told his House colleagues.<\/p>\n

\u201cI worked with Cal Fire, Idyllwild Fire Protection District,\u00a0Mountain Communities Fire Safe\u00a0Council to author the wildfire\u00a0prevention act which will\u00a0deliver tens of millions of\u00a0dollars to recover, rebuild,\u00a0prevent future fires and keep\u00a0our communities safe,\u201d Ruiz added.<\/p>\n

H.R.1183 allows states to apply for hazard-mitigation assistance through the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program in cases where a Fire Management Assistance Grant is awarded. Currently, states can access FMAGs to help fight the most severe fires and prevent them from becoming a major disaster.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, unlike other disasters such as tornadoes and hurricanes, once the fire is out, states and local communities do not have\u00a0access to federal resources to address public-safety issues the fire creates, or to take proactive steps to prevent future fires. This bill brings wildfire disaster relief in line with other natural disasters. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis\u00a0funding is critical to combating the threat of wildfires in both my own district as well as throughout California. Its inclusion will help areas recover that have already been devastated by the recent catastrophic wildfires. I look forward to the Senate passing this legislation and having it signed into law quickly,\u201d said Rep. Paul Cook (R-CA), the lead Republican co-sponsor.<\/span><\/p>\n

After the 2013 Mountain Fire, Ruiz came to the Hill and met with first responders and toured the burned areas. Later that year, he introduced his first bill on wildfire funding.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the winter of 2014, he returned to Idyllwild and attended a Mountain Communities Fire Safe Council meeting to discuss the bill and possible amendments. Before leaving, he repeated his desire to \u201cbe an advocate for you. We\u2019ll sit down together and identify other grant funds.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2015, he introduced H.R. 1009, a revised version of the wildfire funding bill. This legislation, with significant bi-partisan support, also passed the House of Representative in March 2016. However, the Senate did not take any action on any wildfire funding bills.<\/span><\/p>\n

Eighteen California House members opposed the bill, including 17 Democrats and one Republican.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. Representative Dr. Raul Ruiz\u2019s widlfire funding bill passed the House of Representatives (251-169) before the holiday recess. Ruiz\u2019s bill, which would change the way Congress funds the expenses to fight wildfires, was part of the $81 billion disaster-aid bill. This includes funds for victims of recent fires in both Northern and Southern California, as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"amp_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nHouse passes Ruiz wildfire funding bill • Idyllwild Town Crier<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/2017\/12\/27\/house-passes-ruiz-wildfire-funding-bill\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\">\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/\",\"name\":\"Idyllwild Town Crier\",\"description\":\"Almost All the News \\u2014\\u00a0Part of the Time\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/2017\/12\/27\/house-passes-ruiz-wildfire-funding-bill\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/ruiz1.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/2017\/12\/27\/house-passes-ruiz-wildfire-funding-bill\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/2017\/12\/27\/house-passes-ruiz-wildfire-funding-bill\/\",\"name\":\"House passes Ruiz wildfire funding bill • Idyllwild Town Crier\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/2017\/12\/27\/house-passes-ruiz-wildfire-funding-bill\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-27T23:06:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-12-27T23:06:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/#\/schema\/person\/aeae3367986290257fc0e23a23079bb5\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/2017\/12\/27\/house-passes-ruiz-wildfire-funding-bill\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/#\/schema\/person\/aeae3367986290257fc0e23a23079bb5\",\"name\":\"JP Crumrine\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/289a47b0cbb194a66eb24aa93f19f915?s=96&d=retro&r=g\",\"caption\":\"JP Crumrine\"},\"description\":\"JP Crumrine is news editor of the Idyllwild Town Crier newspaper.\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53830"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53830"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53831,"href":"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53830\/revisions\/53831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}