Huffman, Thompson, LaMalfa, McClintock Reintroduce Legislation to Make PG&E Fire Victims Trust Settlements Nontaxable

January 09, 2023

Washington – Today, Reps. Jared Huffman (CA-02), Mike Thompson (CA-04), Doug LaMalfa (CA-01), and Tom McClintock (CA-05) reintroduced the bill from last Congress to exempt thousands of fire victims who are receiving compensation from the Fire Victim Trust from having to pay federal income tax on their settlement money or attorney fees that are included in the settlement.

“My constituents in Northern California have suffered enough from the devastation brought on by wildfires. The last thing the government should do is strip them of funds from the PG&E Fire Victims Trust that was set up to help them,” said Huffman. “I will keep working in every way I can to support wildlife survivors and get our bill signed into law.” 

In the 117th Congress, Reps. Thompson and LaMalfa introduced H.R. 7305 and fought to have it included in the end of the year FY2023 government funding package but unfortunately all tax and disaster relief provisions were not included in the final package.

“Fire survivors have been through living hell in the wake of losing their homes and livelihoods to wildfires and should not be taxed on the settlements from the PG&E Fire Victims Trust,” said Thompson. “This bipartisan bill is a top priority, and I will continue to work with Rep. LaMalfa and Rep. Huffman to enact this bill into law to bring much needed relief to fire survivors.”

“It is essential that we get this done and every Fire Victim Trust beneficiary has this massive tax headache alleviated. It should have been done last year. Fire victims need this tax relief to help rebuild their lives, they should not have to go through another tax season with this uncertainty about their settlement,” said LaMalfa.

“Wildfire victims have experienced unfathomable hardship. The last thing they should be concerned with as they navigate rebuilding their lives is continued uncertainty from the IRS,” said McClintock.