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Legislation Introduced To Help San Bruno Explosion Victims

SACRAMENTO (KCBS) -- Emergency legislation has been introduced in Sacramento to help victims of the San Bruno pipeline explosion and fire.

State Senator Leland Yee said his legislation will offer tax relief to those who lost their homes, as well as tax relief to the local government.

"Because their structures have been lost, there's no property tax and local government and schools are going to lose all that property tax money," he said. "What my bill will do is to backfill the dollars that normally would go to schools and local government."

Even though the state is in a budget crisis right now, Yee said that money is available for these kind of disasters.

"There are emergency funds that are set aside specifically for these kind of relief measures," Yee said. "It's happened in other fires in Southern California."

On Wednesday, the San Mateo County coroner confirmed the deaths of three more people in the explosion and fire, bringing the death toll to seven.

DNA evidence was used to identify 50-year-old Gregory Bullis and his mother, 85-year-old Lavonne Bullis. Bullis' 17-year-old son William was identified from remains found at the family's home.

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