(The Center Square) – As a bill that aims to infuse wildfire-struck Northern California communities with Pacific Gas & Electric money winds its way through the legislature, the bill’s author pushed Wednesday for the eventual passage of the bill.
“We’re tired of paying too high of rates in California for our electricity,” Assemblyman James Gallagher, R-East Nicolaus and author of the bill, said at a press conference. “When we’ve had report after report after report telling us exactly how we can reduce those rates, nothing’s been done and our rates continue to climb. That has to stop.”
Gallagher’s bill, Assembly Bill 2700, would require the California Public Utilities Commission to find ways to reduce kilowatt-per-hour electricity rates by 30%. Recommendations on how to accomplish such a reduction is due to the state legislature by July 12, 2019. The bill also requires the Public Utilities Commission to determine how much money Pacific Gas & Electric, also known as PG&E, owes to the Northern California communities that were burned down in the 2018 Camp Fire that burned the town of Paradise, Calif.
PG&E pleaded guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter and one felony count of unlawfully starting a fire, according to multiple news reports. The complaint filed in that case in 2018 alleges that PG&E failed to maintain its aging electrical infrastructure, and that failure ultimately caused the Camp Fire.
PG&E responded to The Center Square on Wednesday only to say that the company does not have a position on AB 2700.
Several other fires, including the Tubbs Fire in in Napa and Sonoma Counties in 2017 and the 2015 Butte Fire in Butte County also devastated those communities, Gallagher said.
“It makes sure that our fire victims are fully compensated,” Gallagher said of the bill. “There were people who were devastated. We lost community members. We lost homes. People lost everything in these fires.”
While about 70% of that compensation was paid out to members of communities struck by wildfires, no one who was owed money from PG&E got every dollar they were owed, Gallagher said.
“People received some recovery, but they did not receive total recovery,” Gallagher said. “When someone causes damage to you, you should be able to get fully compensated for your loss. That is what happens in courtrooms throughout this nation.”
Advocates for the bill said during the press conference that the bill is important to help hold utility companies accountable when their equipment starts a wildfire.
“When a utility burns your house own, they need to be held accountable for full compensation to their victims,” Will Abrams, who represented the Utility Wildfire Survivor Coalition, said at the press conference. “If it were an individual, and that individual committed arson and burned down a home, they will be held fully accountable, and we expect that same amount of restitution when a utility causes a fire.”
The cost of implementing the bill will ultimately cost roughly $11.1 million, according to a legislative analysis of the bill, which would pay for 22 new positions at the Public Utilities Commission. An additional $6.3 million is projected to pay for outside experts and travel.
The bill’s other goal, reducing electricity rates by 30%, follows several reports that show that California’s electricity rates are some of the highest in the country. According to a 2025 report from the Legislative Analyst’s Office, California’s electricity rates have risen rapidly. Research from the Public Policy Institute of California shows that since the 1980s, the Golden State’s electricity rates have been at least 10% higher than the rest of the country, which has impacted low-income electricity customers the most.
As of April 9, the bill was scheduled to go to a bill hearing the Assembly Appropriations Committee, according to the state’s bill tracker tool.
