Senate President Pro Tempore Monique Limón (D-Santa Barbara) established the new Senate Emergency Management Committee. Senator Henry Stern (D-Los Angeles) will chair the committee while retaining his role as head of the Joint Legislative Committee on Emergency Management.
Committee members include: Kelly Seyarto-Vice Chair- (R-Murrieta), Benjamin Allen (D-Santa Monica), Angelique Ashby (D-Sacramento),Catherine S. Blakespear (D-Encinitas), Meghan Dahle (R-Bieber), Sasha Renée Perez (D-Alhambra) Susan Rubio (D-Baldwin Park).
The new Senate Emergency Management Committee give CUEA members a clear policy “home” in the Legislature for anything touching disaster preparedness, response, utilities’ emergency operations, and SEMS/Cal OES issues.
The Senate Emergency Management Committee will conduct oversight hearings—often paired with other policy committees (e.g., Senate Governmental Organization, Assembly Emergency Management)—to examine topics like alert and warning, PSPS, evacuation of vulnerable populations, and after-action findings. The first two hearings of this new committee will be March 24, 2026, and April 14, 2026.
For CUEA members, this means: a consistent forum to provide technical assistance and educate legislators on utility emergency roles and needs; a predictable venue where PSPS, wildfire, water-system resilience, and communications bills will be shaped; and an opportunity to plug CUEA into hearings, briefings, and informational sessions as the “whole-utilities” coordination voice.
