July 23 Support letter for the Senate Facilitating Increased Resilience, Environmental Weatherization and Lowered Liability Act

July 23, 2025

The Honorable Senator Adam Schiff
United States Senate
112 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510                                      

The Honorable Senator Tim Sheehy
United States Senate
124 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

RE: Support for the Facilitating Increased Resilience, Environmental Weatherization and Lowered Liability Act

Dear Senators Schiff and Sheehy: 

On behalf of the Marin County Board of Supervisors, I am writing in support of the Support for the Facilitating Increased Resilience, Environmental Weatherization and Lowered Liability Act. The County appreciates this legislative effort aimed at alleviating some of the serious financial burdens associated with disaster mitigation expenditures. 

The Facilitating Increased Resilience, Environmental Weatherization and Lowered Liability Act represents a critical step forward in strengthening our nation’s defenses against the growing threat of wildfires. As extreme weather continues to exacerbate fire conditions across the West and beyond, this legislation offers much-needed investment in proactive fire mitigation strategies. These measures not only protect lives and property but also will reduce the financial burden for emergency response and recovery costs.

The State Board of Forestry and Cal Fire has officially designated more than half of the rural and unincorporated areas in Marin County as “high” fire hazard severity zones, and we have made real local investments in wildfire preparedness, prevention and response.

Marin residents passed a 10-year parcel tax measure in 2020 to create the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority (MWPA). In its first few years, MWPA has made significant progress in reducing wildfire risk with proactive, proven wildfire prevention, including distributing grant funding for more than 500 home hardening improvements. However, local demand far exceeds limited community resources available for home hardening. These crucial upgrades, including fire-resistant building materials and roofing, air filtration, and other improvements, are costly. That’s why a national tax credit program is so important, since we know widespread adoption of home hardening is the only effective way to build community-wide wildfire resiliency.

One of the most important ways to manage natural disasters is prevention. As such, we strongly support the Facilitating Increased Resiliency, Environmental Weatherization and Lowered Liability Act, and we appreciate your leadership on this important issue.

Sincerely, 

Mary Sackett, President
Marin County Board of Supervisors

CC:       Marin County Board of Supervisors
Senator Alex Padilla
Congressman Jared Huffman