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AB 1964

State Fire Marshal: home hardening.

2025-2026 Regular Session Introduced by Patrick Ahrens and 8 co-sponsors

AB 1964 creates a state tracking system through county recorders to document residential fire-hardening improvements, aiming to support wildfire resilience efforts and coordinate retrofit initiatives.

From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (June 30). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
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Bill Summary · AB 1964

Legislative bill overview

AB 1964 directs California's State Fire Marshal and county recorders to establish systems for tracking and maintaining records of residential home hardening improvements—modifications that increase a structure's fire resistance, such as ember-resistant vents, fire-resistant roofing, and defensible space maintenance. The bill aims to create a centralized database or recording mechanism so that completed hardening work can be documented and verified over time.

Why is this important

California faces escalating wildfire threats, and home hardening is recognized as a cost-effective way to reduce structure loss and protect lives. A coordinated tracking system could help homeowners, insurers, and emergency management agencies identify which properties have been hardened, potentially inform insurance pricing, guide retrofit incentive programs, and provide data for evaluating the effectiveness of hardening initiatives at scale.

Potential points of contention

  • Privacy and data concerns: Homeowners may object to their property improvement records being centralized in a state database, especially if data could be shared with insurance companies or used for risk-based assessment
  • Implementation burden: County recorders already manage high-volume record systems; mandating new hardening tracking could require significant staff training, IT infrastructure, and ongoing maintenance costs
  • Enforceability and verification: The bill doesn't clarify who verifies that improvements meet fire-resistance standards, how outdated records are managed, or what happens if homeowners claim improvements they haven't actually completed

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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