{"id":41497,"date":"2026-08-12T19:43:59","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T14:43:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=41497"},"modified":"2026-08-12T19:43:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T14:43:59","slug":"state-lawmakers-seek-tougher-rules-for-industrial-facilities-after-boyle-heights-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=41497","title":{"rendered":"State lawmakers seek tougher rules for industrial facilities after Boyle Heights fire"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/b91e149\/2147483647\/strip\/false\/crop\/8050x5333+0+0\/resize\/1500x994!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F2d%2F8b%2F39f7b55042d3a9d955bd5a918d83%2F1560313-me-boyle-heights-fire-storage-facility-folo-cmh-04.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<div data-element=\"story-body\" data-dateline=\"\" data-subscriber-content=\"\">\n<p><span class=\"dateline\">SACRAMENTO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/span>Two state lawmakers from Los Angeles want tougher penalties for disasters caused by industrial companies after a massive fire in Boyle Heights left neighbors struggling with smoky air and the smell of rotting meat. <\/p>\n<p>Assemblymember Mark Gonz\u00e1lez and state Sen. Mar\u00eda Elena Durazo, both Democrats, are seeking a new law that would require any new cold storage facility to create a contingency fund for emergencies. <\/p>\n<p>The fund would be used to help neighbors mitigate the fallout from a disaster. <\/p>\n<p>Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who is running for reelection, will appear with Gonz\u00e1lez and Durazo at an event Wednesday to discuss the proposed laws. <\/p>\n<p>Lineage\u2019s 500,000-square-foot food warehouse in Boyle Heights caught fire on June 17. The company blames a power company, which was working on the warehouse\u2019s roof, for the blaze. <\/p>\n<p>The company, Altus Power, has denied responsibility, stating that the cause is undetermined. The company accused Lineage of finger-pointing instead of focusing on community relief.<\/p>\n<p>Noxious smoke and an influx of rats and flies attracted to rotting meat stored at the facility have tormented neighbors. The <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/publichealth.lacounty.gov\/phcommon\/public\/media\/mediapubhpdetail.cfm?prid=5399\" target=\"_blank\">Los Angeles County Department of Public Health<\/a> has <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/ph.lacounty.gov\/phcommon\/public\/media\/mediapubhpdetail.cfm?prid=5398\" target=\"_blank\">cited<\/a> Lineage for unsanitary and nuisance conditions related to rodent and pest control violations.<\/p>\n<p>The <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/environment\/story\/2026-08-05\/lineage-spend-100-million-boyle-heights-cleanup-air-regulators\">South Coast Air Quality Management District<\/a> has issued at least 20 violation notices to Lineage for public nuisance.<\/p>\n<p>Lineage recently applied for building permits to replace the site, which Bass called \u201ca slap in the face\u201d to Boyle Heights families.<\/p>\n<p>A press release ahead of Wednesday\u2019s news conference said the proposal by lawmakers \u201cwill ensure that Lineage can\u2019t rebuild without being accountable to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gonz\u00e1lez and Durazo plan to insert proposed legislation related to the Lineage fire into existing bills, a process known as \u201cgut and amend.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The politicians also want to allow for stiffer fines against companies following a disaster.<\/p>\n<p>Their proposed legislation also would ensure that anyone who sues over the fire doesn\u2019t have to pay state taxes on any settlement, and that local jurisdictions are responsible for pest extermination efforts.<\/p>\n<p>Greg Lehmkuhl, president and chief executive of Lineage, said in a quarterly earnings call last week that the company has committed $3.3 million to the community in the aftermath of the fire.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSafety remains our top priority, and I\u2019m incredibly proud of our team and how they\u2019re handling this very challenging situation,\u201d Lehmkuhl said on the call.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SACRAMENTO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Two state lawmakers from Los Angeles want tougher penalties for disasters caused by industrial companies after a massive fire in Boyle Heights left neighbors struggling with smoky air and the smell of rotting meat. Assemblymember Mark Gonz\u00e1lez and state Sen. Mar\u00eda Elena Durazo, both Democrats, are seeking a new law that would require any new&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/67ec6a3\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/8050x4226+0+553\/resize\/1200x630!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F2d%2F8b%2F39f7b55042d3a9d955bd5a918d83%2F1560313-me-boyle-heights-fire-storage-facility-folo-cmh-04.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}