California Democrats have opted not to move forward with Senate Bill 492, a significant wildfire reform proposal, before the close of the legislative session. Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas stated that the bill did not go far enough to provide relief for wildfire survivors or to hold utility companies accountable for their role in starting catastrophic fires.
"We will continue to tackle the difficult but critically important issue of wildfire reform," Rivas said in a statement. "Sacramento shouldn’t settle when wildfire survivors lost everything."
The decision effectively halts the bill’s progress for the year, ending weeks of negotiations that involved lawmakers, utility companies, wildfire victims, consumer advocates, trial lawyers, and labor groups. Governor Gavin Newsom had urged lawmakers to reach a compromise before the session concluded.
Consumer advocates and wildfire survivor groups expressed strong disappointment. Joy Chen, leader of the Eaton Fire Survivor’s Network, and Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog, issued a joint statement criticizing the outcome. "SB 492 was a negotiated leadership compromise. Now it is dead because the utilities wanted even more," their statement read. "Corporate special interests and utility lobbyists would rather kill the bill than accept a compromise that rejected the bailout they sought."
Following the news, shares for Pacific Gas and Electric Company and Edison International saw significant drops, falling by 20% and 23% respectively. This decline occurred after a proposal aimed at altering the financial responsibility for utility equipment-sparked wildfires was gutted.
Rivas elaborated that the talks failed to yield legislation lawmakers were prepared to approve. "Over the past several weeks, we have spent hundreds of hours at the table with Californians from every side of this fight, and the verdict is clear: The proposal before us does not yet deliver the relief, accountability or meaningful reform that Californians deserve," he said.
The collapse of SB 492 represents a setback for consumer watchdogs and Governor Newsom’s legislative agenda, pushing the debate over wildfire costs and utility accountability into the next year. Chen and Court emphasized, "We should not privatize the profits and socialize the risk."
Governor Newsom indicated the possibility of calling a special legislative session to revisit the issue. "This is a consequential moment and you’re seeing the consequences play out in real time," Newsom stated, according to KCRA 3. "We’ve got work to do."