California is writing the country's first smoke damage standard, and it will license the people who do the work

A bill now in the California Senate would force the state to set testing and remediation standards for smoke-damaged homes and certify the contractors who do it.

AB 1795, the Smoke Damage Recovery Act, authored by Assemblymember Mike Gipson with Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, was introduced February 10, 2026, amended five times in the Assembly, passed it, and was amended in the Senate on July 2, 2026. It directs CalEPA to develop health-based standards by June 30, 2027 for minimum sampling, testing, and chemical screening levels on smoke-damaged residential property, including pre-remediation and post-remediation testing protocols. By January 1, 2028 the state must establish training and certification requirements for the professionals who inspect, test, and remediate those homes, along with implementing regulations and certification fees. On the carrier side it bars terminating additional living expenses before a home is cleared for habitation, requires insurers to cover the cost of the sampling and testing the standards require, sets a 30-day inspection clock from notice of claim, requires actual cash value within 30 days of inspection and replacement cost within 15 days of receiving contractor contracts, and requires insurers to verify that contractors hold proper state licensing and certification. The driver: more than 42,000 wildfire claims from January to November 2025, over 13,000 of them on homes left standing with smoke damage.