An Honest Economy for Sonoma County
World-class vineyards, a working waterfront, and families who rebuilt after the fires — only to lose their insurance
Sonoma County knows what it means to watch your neighborhood burn. The Tubbs Fire. The Kincade Fire. The Glass Fire. Thousands of homes destroyed, entire neighborhoods in Fountaingrove and Coffey Park rebuilt from ash — and then the insurance companies sent non-renewal notices. Bodega Bay's fishing families are navigating salmon closures and a shifting ocean economy. And the Sonoma Coast's shellfish farmers, kelp stewards, and coastal ranchers are doing climate work every day without being paid for it. Sonoma doesn't need another politician talking about resilience. It needs someone who shows up with actual legislation. Here are the three bills that matter most.
They Rebuilt After the Fire. Then the Insurance Left.
Sonoma County families did everything right. They rebuilt their homes to fire-resistant standards. They cleared their brush. They hardened their roofs. And then their insurance companies sent non-renewal notices anyway. Meanwhile, Bodega Bay's fishing fleet is navigating the worst salmon closures in memory. And the Sonoma Coast's shellfish farmers and coastal ranchers are sequestering carbon every day without a dollar of compensation for it. These three bills attack all three crises with drafted federal legislation — not campaign promises.
Federal Wildfire Insurance Stabilization Act
You survived the fire and rebuilt your home — you shouldn't have to lose it to a non-renewal notice
After the Tubbs, Kincade, and Glass fires, insurance companies didn't just raise rates in Sonoma County — they left entirely. Neighborhoods that rebuilt to fire-resistant standards in Fountaingrove, Larkfield, and Coffey Park are getting dropped by companies they've paid premiums to for decades. The reason? Proprietary risk models that nobody can see, challenge, or verify. This bill replaces those secret algorithms with an open-source National Wildfire Risk Model built on real science and available to every homeowner, local official, and elected representative. It creates a federal reinsurance backstop — modeled on the proven systems for flood and terrorism risk — so insurers can cover catastrophic losses without fleeing the market entirely. It establishes the "Zone Zero" standard: a 5-foot noncombustible buffer around structures that earns homeowners mandatory, guaranteed premium discounts — not suggestions. And it requires meaningful credits for home hardening — real savings for fire-resistant roofing, ember-resistant vents, and defensible space. Sonoma already knows how to harden. This bill makes sure it pays off. It also funds low-income home hardening grants so fire safety isn't only available to those who can afford the retrofit on their own.
From Seashore to Stockyard — CA-2 Food Security and Economic Resilience Act
Bodega Bay built Sonoma's coast — this bill makes sure it has a future
Bodega Bay isn't just a tourist stop — it's a working fishing port with families who've made their living on the water for generations. But salmon closures, crab season disruptions from toxic algal blooms, and a shifting marine environment are pushing the community to the breaking point. This comprehensive food security and fishing economy bill — written for all nine CA-2 counties — hits every piece of the Bodega Bay crisis and Sonoma's broader agricultural economy. It provides immediate salmon disaster payments so fishing families can keep their boats and their homes during closures. It funds crab fleet resilience support to maintain vessels through shortened seasons. It creates a Fisher-to-Kelp-Farmer transition program opening regenerative aquaculture as a real income stream — directly relevant to the Sonoma Coast's kelp beds. It invests in working waterfront infrastructure — cold storage, processing facilities, and dock improvements at Bodega Bay. Beyond the harbor, the bill supports Sonoma's wine country agricultural economy: food hubs with cold storage in every CA-2 county give Sonoma Valley, Alexander Valley, and Russian River Valley producers a local distribution network; enhanced reimbursement for school meals sourced locally creates a guaranteed market for Sonoma farms; and the Russian River Chinook restoration provisions support the spawning runs that connect Sonoma's inland watershed to the Bodega Bay fishing fleet.
Coastal Carbon Sequestration Dividend Act
Sonoma's shellfish farmers, kelp stewards, and coastal ranchers are doing climate work every day — this bill pays them for it
The Sonoma Coast supports active shellfish operations, recovering kelp ecosystems, and extensive coastal rangeland grazing on the marine terraces above the Pacific. Every day, these operations are pulling carbon out of the atmosphere and out of the ocean — measurably, verifiably, permanently. Right now, they get nothing for it while corporations buy fraudulent carbon offsets on the open market. This bill creates a federal payment program for verified coastal carbon sequestration, with rates calibrated to what the science actually measures. Shellfish operations earn $10–$40 per ton — oysters pull carbonate directly from seawater as they build their shells, a well-documented and permanent form of ocean carbon removal. Kelp restoration earns $15–$45 per ton — the Sonoma Coast's bull kelp forests, devastated since 2014, are among the highest-priority kelp restoration zones on the West Coast. Coastal rangeland grazing earns $20–$40 per ton for operations that build soil carbon through rotational and regenerative practices on the coastal bluffs from Bodega Head to Jenner. All payments are for direct, verified, permanent sequestration only — fraudulent offset credits explicitly rejected, audited by an independent scientific board. UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory, located at Bodega Bay, is a natural institutional anchor for the monitoring and measurement infrastructure this program requires. For Sonoma's coastal operators, this bill turns what they already do into a federal revenue stream — and makes stewardship pay.
Every Bill Meets These Standards
Not talking points — tested principles. Every bill was drafted with constitutional analysis, fiscal scoring, and real accountability built in. Read them yourself.
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