California lawmakers give utilities a break on wildfires
SACRAMENTO » In the end, the California Legislature concluded that some companies — namely utilities — are just too big to fail.
You wouldn’t ordinarily think that about a Democratic Legislature not known for being business-friendly.
But the lawmakers decided that private utilities should be allowed to raise customers’ electricity rates to help cover 2017 wildfire liabilities if that’s deemed necessary to forestall bankruptcy. They’d need to sell the rate increase the California Public Utilities Commission.
“We’ve done everything we can to protect ratepayers,” Democratic Senate leader Toni Atkins said in a statement. But without higher rates, she said, the utilities “face the dire prospect of bankruptcy. If we allowed that to happen, ratepayers would suffer deeper as rates spike (and energy) reliability is lost.”
Consumer advocates called the legislation a bailout.
The utilities — especially Pacific Gas & Electric Co. — didn’t like the legislation either. They had sought a more generous formula for determining financial liability when wildfires are sparked by their equipment, such as fallen power lines. PG&E says it faces up to $2.5 billion in liabilities from last year’s devastating wine country fires.
The legislation included a lot of things — mainly aimed at increasing the state’s fire prevention efforts by removing combustible fuel from woodlands.
Legislators were under pressure from constituents to pass significant prevention and firefighting bills.
It was personal for many legislators who were threatened by flames the last two years.
“We’re going into fire season when I go home,” Republican Assemblywoman Marie Waldron said during the House debate, referring to the peak fire months of September and October.
The fire legislation passed both houses late Friday night, just before lawmakers adjourned their two-year session.
The Legislature concluded that President Trump’s policies needed to be resisted — especially on illegal immigration. That was reflected in a sanctuary state bill the Legislature passed last year.
“If Trump hadn’t won the presidency, there’d be no need for this measure,” said then-Senate leader Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles, author of that bill. “There has to be a firewall to protect our state.”
De León’s bill was toned down under a veto threat from Gov. Jerry Brown. It prohibited California law enforcement from joining federal agents in immigration raids.
But if an immigrant in the country illegally is convicted of one of roughly 800 crimes, he can be reported to the feds before his release from jail.
Politically, Democrats would have been better off if they’d allowed jailers to tip off federal agents whenever any undocumented lawbreaker was released, regardless of his crime. The sanctuary bill, which mirrored the policies of several California cities, merely enhanced our national image as a radical left coast state.
The Legislature continued fighting Trump’s policies right up until the session’s end. It sent Brown a bill restoring net neutrality rules that federal regulators have scrapped.
Under the bill, broadband and wireless companies would be prohibited from favoring some websites by charging for faster speeds. Providers also would be barred from blocking access to content. The internet industry lobbied heavily against the measure.
The Legislature also consistently bucked Trump’s coal-oriented energy policies.
State lawmakers passed an ambitious de León bill requiring California to obtain 100% of its energy from clean sources by 2045. The only other state with such a bold goal is Hawaii.
Brown was unusually silent on de León’s bill. But the governor’s expected to sign it as an overture to a big climate summit he’s holding next week in San Francisco.
Another monumental bill the Legislature passed and Brown signed last week will end California’s money bail system. No longer will defendants be locked up awaiting trial simply because they’re too poor. Judges will decide who’s a flight risk or a public danger and should be jailed — and who should be freed.
The bill’s author, Sen. Bob Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, called the current system “perverse.”
The most gutsy thing the Legislature did during the two years was pass an unpopular increase in gas taxes and vehicle fees. The idea was to raise $5.2 billion annually, mostly for road repairs.
Republicans are attempting to capitalize on the tax hike. They’re sponsoring a November ballot measure that would repeal the tax — and, they hope, light a fire under GOP voters. They just might do it.