AB 1795, the Smoke Damage Recovery Act, was approved by the Governor on September 15, 2026 and chaptered as Chapter 240, Statutes of 2026. This page previously described the bill as enrolled and awaiting signature. That is no longer its status, and the sections below describe what the chaptered act requires rather than what a pending bill proposed.
The California Department of Insurance also published a September 15 consumer alert explaining the new investigation, testing, restoration, and claim-handling protections. The alert is useful context; the chaptered bill text remains the controlling primary source for the details and dates summarized here.
One thing has not changed. The act does not change what your policy pays on a claim today. It carries no urgency clause, and its own final section conditions when it operates. What a smoke claim pays right now is still decided by the policy language and the facts of the loss.
Why the operative date is the first thing to check
Being chaptered and being operative are two different things. AB 1795 is on the books, but Section 10 ties its operation to AB 1642, the wildfire contamination standards measure by Assemblymember Harabedian. Both were approved on September 15, 2026, and neither carries an urgency clause, so neither takes effect on signature.
The consequence is a matter of dates rather than judgement: the duties below attach to claims on or after the operative date, not to a claim already in progress before it.
The rebuttable presumption
Insurance Code section 2060.1(a) establishes “a rebuttable presumption that if wildfire smoke, ash, soot, char, or combustion byproducts are present in a surviving residential property in the wildfire impact zone after a wildfire, then smoke damage in the property is the result of that wildfire.”
The act defines a wildfire impact zone at section 2060.1(e)(7) as “a ZIP Code within or partially within the fire perimeter.” Two things follow from that. Your address either falls inside that zone or it does not, and the presumption speaks to causation only.
A presumption is not a coverage grant. It changes who has to prove what, not what a policy covers, and because it is rebuttable an insurer may present evidence against it. Your home insurance policy language still determines the limits, the exclusions and the settlement basis for any smoke claim.
Who pays for testing and sampling
Section 2060.2(b) provides that “an insurer shall be responsible for covering the cost of the sampling and testing that is necessary to restore a damaged property to its preloss condition and render it cleared for human occupancy.”
Testing is the step that decides whether a home is treated as damaged at all, and it has often been paid for by the homeowner who wanted the answer. Note the word necessary. The section ties the insurer’s responsibility to the testing needed to restore and clear the property, not to every test a party might want to run, and it expressly makes that responsibility subject to the terms and provisions of the policy.
The inspection clock, and the payment that follows
If the insurer chooses to exercise its right to inspect, Section 2060.2(d)(1) requires the inspection as soon as practicable, and no later than 30 calendar days after receiving notice of the claim. That clock has an access exception: if the property is not accessible because of government restrictions, the insurer must inspect as soon as practicable and no later than 30 calendar days after access is granted. In a closed evacuation zone, that distinction is the whole difference.
Section 2060.2(d)(2) then sets a payment deadline tied to the inspection: the actual cash value of the undisputed cost to restore damaged personal property, no later than 30 calendar days from the date the property was inspected. Read the scope carefully. That subdivision is about personal property, and it is actual cash value of the undisputed portion, not a settlement of the claim. Timing for replacement cost sits separately in subdivision (d)(3).
Additional living expenses
Section 2060.1(b) provides that an insurer “shall not terminate coverage for additional living expenses for a covered smoke damage claim for a property within the wildfire impact zone submitted under a policy of residential property insurance… until the property has been restored to preloss condition and cleared for human occupancy… subject to the applicable policy limit.”
This is the provision most likely to matter day to day, because additional living expenses, usually shortened to ALE, is what pays for somewhere to live while a home is unusable, and its cutoff is a common flashpoint in a long smoke claim. Three limits sit inside that sentence. It applies to a covered claim, for a property within the wildfire impact zone, and it is subject to the applicable policy limit. It does not create ALE on a policy that has none, and it does not extend a limit that has been exhausted.
Choosing who does the work
Section 2060.2(e) states that “the policyholder shall have the right to select the vendor or contractor to perform the restoration of the property.” That is a right to choose rather than be directed to a particular firm. It does not remove the licensing or qualification requirements that otherwise apply to whoever performs the work.
Adjuster training
Section 14048(a) requires that “an insurer, adjuster firm, or qualified manager shall train and accredit its adjusters in accordance with those regulations and guidance.” The program those duties depend on carries its own date: on or before July 1, 2029, the Department is to develop a training and certification program for insurance adjusters.
That gap matters for expectations. Standards mean little if the person applying them at your kitchen table has never been trained in them, and the training program behind this requirement is dated years out rather than in place now.
The study behind the act
The act also directs study work with its own deadlines: a Department of Insurance study on or before July 1, 2027, a Department final report on or before December 1, 2027, and an Office of Emergency Services final report on or before July 31, 2028. A study is a study. It is not a new coverage and not a new peril.
What stays policy specific and claim specific
Everything above sets duties on how a claim is investigated, timed and paid. None of it rewrites the policy you own. Your limits, your exclusions, your deductible, your ALE cap and the time limit attached to it are contract terms, and this act does not change them. Whether a given loss is covered at all remains a question about your policy language and the facts of that loss.
- Document conditions now rather than later. The habits in our guide to wildfire claim documentation support a claim with or without a presumption.
- Read your current ALE limit and the time cap that goes with it. Those are the terms that would apply to a loss tomorrow.
- If your carrier has already declined to renew you, the rules for California nonrenewal notices are separate from this act and run on their own schedule.
- If the admitted market is closed to your address, understand what the California FAIR Plan does and does not cover before you need it. What carriers credit for wildfire mitigation is a separate question from smoke claim standards, and the lines worth reading on a declarations page are covered in what to check on your FAIR Plan policy.
A law on the books is a reason to get your own file in order, not a reason to wait for it. The documentation that would support a presumption is the same documentation that supports a claim without one.
The Bottom Line
AB 1795 is chaptered law as of September 15, 2026, and it standardizes parts of a smoke claim that have been argued case by case: what testing is done and who pays for it, how quickly an inspection happens and when the undisputed amount is paid, who performs the restoration, and how long ALE continues. It is not operative on signature, its operation is conditioned on AB 1642 by Section 10, and the adjuster training program it relies on is dated on or before July 1, 2029.
This article is for general educational purposes and is not legal advice. It describes the chaptered text as published by the Legislature. Claim outcomes depend on the policy language, the facts of each loss, and the operative date that applies to that claim.
Primary Sources and Further Reading
- California Department of Insurance – smoke-damage consumer alert (September 15, 2026)
- California Legislative Information – AB 1795 chaptered text (Chapter 240, Statutes of 2026)
- California Legislative Information – AB 1795 status, approved by the Governor September 15, 2026
- California Legislative Information – AB 1642 status (Chapter 239, Statutes of 2026)
- California Department of Insurance – Release 031 (September 15, 2026), the signing announcement