A California Assembly committee deadlocked 2-2 on SB 716 on Thursday, leaving the bill stalled after a contentious hearing over whether cities and counties should have stronger fine authority when large commercial or industrial sites drag out cleanup after a disaster.
The bill, carried by Sen. de Rasmussen, was framed by supporters as a response to the Lineage Logistics warehouse fire in Boyle Heights, where they said residents lived for months with odors, pests and other health impacts after the June 17 blaze. In testimony before the Assembly Local Government Committee, supporters said Los Angeles County inspections found unresolved violations a month after the fire, and that city and air-district cleanup deadlines had been missed.
Under SB 716, local governments could impose higher escalating penalties on large non-residential structures, with even larger fines in cases tied to a state or federal disaster declaration. The author said amendments narrowed the bill so the higher penalty structure would apply only to health-and-safety threats and, in the emergency-disaster case, to the tenant operator when the underlying condition was within that operator’s control.
County and code-enforcement groups backed the measure, saying existing fines can be too small to motivate a fast cleanup in extraordinary cases. But business and industry groups argued the bill was still too broad and could sweep in ordinary commercial properties, including buildings far beyond the warehouse case that prompted it.
After the vote, committee staff said reconsideration remained open, meaning the bill is not finished for the session and could come back before the panel.
