$115 Million in Flood Aid OKd by Legislature

The Legislature passed and sent to Gov. George Deukmejian on Monday a $115-million disaster and flood emergency relief package to aid victims of California’s heavy rainstorms.

Patterned closely after what Deukmejian had called for, the legislation was approved 66 to 3 in the Assembly and 31 to 0 in the Senate even as Northern California was being hit by a new round of storms. Deukmejian said he would sign the bill today.

Assemblyman Dominic L. Cortese (D-San Jose), who led Senate and Assembly negotiators in drafting the emergency legislation, said the bill “will provide immediate relief to individual flood victims, businesses and local government agencies.”

In a related development, Deukmejian announced that President Reagan has declared a total of 31 Northern California counties eligible for federal disaster assistance to repair public facilities. The governor said that Reagan also has designated residents of 33 counties eligible for federal assistance in the form of temporary housing, low-interest loans and individual and family grants.

50,000 Temporarily Homeless

About 50,000 people were left at least temporarily homeless by the heavy storms that hit Northern California last month. State officials estimated that individuals and businesses suffered $250 million in losses as a result of the weather damage while public agencies lost at least another $125 million in washed-out roads, highways, levees and other public facilities.

The $115 million in state funds is expected to supplement federal disaster assistance.

The money will come out of the $1-billion state budget reserve created last year. As a result of the cost of Monday’s disaster relief legislation and withdrawals made earlier, the emergency reserve will drop to $702 million, according to the state Department of Finance.

The bill will provide $10 million in grants to flood victims, $80 million in direct aid to 36 counties hit by flooding, $20 million in tax relief to individuals and businesses that suffered storm losses, and $5 million to reclamation districts to repair levees that washed out.

“Local governments are faced with enormous costs of clean-up and repair of flood damage,” Cortese said.

The bill will allow homeowners who suffered more than $10,000 in flood damage to defer payment of property taxes due April 10.

Individuals will be eligible for up to $10,000 in disaster relief assistance, including both state and federal grants.

New storms have dropped two inches of rain on Sacramento since Friday, causing local rivers to rise and foot patrols to again begin walking the levees that hold the Sacramento River away from populated residential areas. The rain was accompanied by winds that reached sustained speeds of 30 to 40 m.p.h. in Sacramento, with gusts in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta of 50 to 60 m.p.h.