Mayor Karen Bass and two state legislators urged Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday, Sept. 9, to sign a pair of bills prompted by the Lineage Logistics warehouse fire in Boyle Heights.

Bass, Assemblyman Mark González (D-Los Angeles) and Sen. Maria Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles) held a press conference at Dolores Mission, joined by members of community organization Proyecto Pastoral. Newsom has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto the bills, which have passed both houses of the California Legislature.

The officials also announced $7.5 million in expected state funding for Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles. The money would go toward $1 million for mobile health clinics, $2 million for Los Angeles County Public Health for fire cleanup and remediation, and $4.5 million to the YMCA of Los Angeles for emergency food and resource assistance. The funding is expected to be part of an appropriation bill likely to be signed at the end of September, The Eastsider LA reported. It will be some time before the money reaches organizations and is disbursed to residents.

"Even as residents dealt with overwhelming odors, pests, and the daily indignity of living beside millions of pounds of rotting food, local government was restricted in the fines that we could place upon Lineage," Bass said. "We want this to change."

AB 817, introduced by González, would bar permits for cold storage facilities like the Lineage warehouse unless they maintain a contingency fund of up to $20 million for emergencies. That requirement would take effect in 2028 and apply statewide. The bill would also exempt future legal settlements for fire-affected residents from taxes.

González said Boyle Heights and East LA endured 80 days of smoke, ash, rats, flies and the smell of rotting food after the June 17 fire.

SB 716, introduced by Durazo, would overhaul the state's environmental fine structure for the first time since 1983. Penalties would start at $1,000 for a first violation, rise to $2,000 for a second and $5,000 for each one after that. Fines could reach $50,000 per violation when tied to a declared state or federal disaster. The bill would apply only to Los Angeles County until July 1, 2028, then expand to environmental justice communities statewide.

A coalition of industry groups opposes the legislation. CalChamber, the California Business Roundtable, California Trucking and others sent a letter to Newsom on Sept. 2 asking him to veto SB 716, arguing it would give local governments "broad and unchecked discretion" over when the harshest penalties apply, Spectrum News reported.

The press conference came four days after Lineage announced it had finished removing more than 89 million pounds of food waste from the 491,000-square-foot site. The South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) confirmed on Sept. 5 that the company had cleared all food and debris, power-washed and disinfected the interior, meeting the deadline. Lineage said the cleanup cost $100 million and 210,000 worker hours.

AQMD inspectors will continue daily visits to the site to ensure compliance with the abatement order. Lineage must notify the community of any future actions that could cause odors and continue air monitoring along the fenceline and in the surrounding neighborhood.

Newsom's office has not publicly responded to the calls to sign either bill.