'Derelict in duty:' Speaker Johnson supports conditions for California bailout

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Monday that he supports adding conditions to any federal aid to California over the Los Angeles wildfires, citing his position that state and local leaders were “derelict in their duty.”

With the state’s insurers already on the brink of insolvency before the massive wildfires, and the state nonpartisan legislative analyst’s office saying the state faces rising multibillion dollar budget deficits and has “no capacity for new commitments,” a federal bailout may be the state’s only option.

But for California Gov. Gavin Newsom, that may mean giving up on key policy priorities, whether that includes the state’s high speed rail program, 2035 ban on new gasoline-powered vehicles, sanctuary state laws limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities, or the state’s providing of taxpayer-financed health care for illegal immigrants.

“I​​t appears to us that state and local leaders were derelict in their duty in many respects. So that's something that has to be factored in," Johnson told a gaggle of reporters as he traversed the U.S. Capitol. "I think there should probably be conditions on that aid. That's my personal view. We'll see what the consensus is."

Johnson had issued an earlier communication describing the “feckless leadership” in the state, pointing out Newsom had “blocked water policy that reserves water from the north to be available in times like this” and “failed to manage CA’s forests effectively.” He also said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass had not only made major cuts to the fire department budget, but that she “left for Africa” as a member of a Biden administration delegation to Ghana “despite advanced warnings about the fires.”

California has 15 million acres of land at high risk for uncontrolled wildfires, but the state has made only slow progress in the brush removal, prescribed burns, and other methods used to limit the risk of deadly wildfires. After two years of near-record precipitation have been followed by an ongoing drought, overgrown vegetation from those rains has since dried up and become highly flammable.

In response to President-elect Donald Trump’s ongoing comments about the state’s fire and water management, Newsom said he’s “not interested in politicizing a natural disaster” while inviting Trump to come visit the state.

Trump is yet to accept the invitation.

California Republicans, citing the governor’s budget documents, said the state has cut fire prevention funding since the 2021-2022 fiscal year by 80% — back to historical, albeit low levels of $200 million, including a $100 million cut last year in wildfire and forest resilience.

In response, Newsom claimed California has “increased forest management ten-fold” since taking office, and launched a new public website called California Fire Facts to combat “misinformation.”

This new website notes that the forest management budget was $200 million in 2018, and the state now spends “$200 million annually.” After accounting for U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ measured inflation between January 2018 and November 2024, the current $200 million budget is an effective 21.4% lower than $200 million in 2018.