In The News

Extreme heat in homes sickens and kills. California lawmakers can fight it.

Extreme heat is a public health emergency for millions of Californians. For my family, it isn’t just a threat outdoors; it’s within our home as well. 

I live in a mobile home in Thermal in eastern Coachella Valley. Here, triple-digit heat creeps into our forecast earlier and earlier each year. This year, 100-degree days started in April and likely won’t end until October. 

Many times this summer, we tried using swamp coolers. But when humidity penetrates our homes, it’s a suffocating feeling, especially when you lack insulation. You can’t escape it. 

I know it’s dangerous to work seven or eight hours a day under the sun and then continue to bear oppressive temperatures at home, but what choice do I have?

Extreme heat is a public health emergency for millions of Californians. For my family, it isn’t just a threat outdoors; it’s within our home as well. 

I live in a mobile home in Thermal in eastern Coachella Valley. Here, triple-digit heat creeps into our forecast earlier and earlier each year. This year, 100-degree days started in April and likely won’t end until October. 

Many times this summer, we tried using swamp coolers. But when humidity penetrates our homes, it’s a suffocating feeling, especially when you lack insulation. You can’t escape it. 

I know it’s dangerous to work seven or eight hours a day under the sun and then continue to bear oppressive temperatures at home, but what choice do I have?

State leaders can do something about this and pass Senate Bill 655 for my family and the millions of Californians this bill would help protect. The measure establishes a state policy that would require residential units to maintain a safe maximum indoor temperature. If it becomes law, it would affect future state regulations, programs and grant decisions.

California already has laws in place for homes to maintain a minimum indoor temperature. Why not have a law to ensure a maximum indoor temperature too? 

Climate change will make extreme heat events longer and more severe. In the next few decades, Riverside County will see 55 days every year in which temperatures exceed 100 degrees. By 2050, deaths from extreme heat could jump to more than 10,000 per year in California.

California already has laws in place for homes to maintain a minimum indoor temperature. Why not have a law to ensure a maximum indoor temperature too? 

Climate change will make extreme heat events longer and more severe. In the next few decades, Riverside County will see 55 days every year in which temperatures exceed 100 degrees. By 2050, deaths from extreme heat could jump to more than 10,000 per year in California.

 

FULL OPED-https://calmatters.org/commentary/2025/09/high-temperatures-california-…