Critics blast last-minute push for sweeping wildfire package

California lawmakers are racing to reach an agreement on a sweeping wildfire package that would overhaul wildfire victim compensation, insurance rules, utility accountability and prevention efforts.

But critics say proposals from the Assembly and Gov. Gavin Newsom could amount to another bailout for insurers and utilities -- and that such important legislation should not have been left to the final days of the legislative session.

The Assembly's Wildfire Crisis Working Group has outlined a four-part framework aimed at making the state's wildfire system more durable after years of catastrophic losses, rising insurance costs and pressure on utilities.

The proposal would create a faster compensation process for wildfire survivors while preserving major claims for property loss, wrongful death and serious injuries. It also calls for insurance reforms and provisions aimed at holding utilities accountable, including mandatory wildfire penalties and forfeiture of compensation by top executives after a utility-caused wildfire.

Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog, said the plan as outlined would effectively amount to another bailout for utilities.

"This will codify regulations that were excoriated for allowing insurance companies to raise rates and not deliver on additional coverage to homeowners," Court said. "The plan is for the Legislature to cement the rules so that the next insurance commissioner doesn't have a chance to undo them."

A draft of Newsom's plan has also been circulating. Both proposals reference related bills already in print, but those bills do not yet contain many of their most significant provisions. Newsom's plan also proposes to "repeal the 2028 sunset on the SB 254 Continuation Fund and cap Fund-covered claims at $6B per event."

SB 254, introduced last year just before the legislative deadline, authorized billions in new funding from the state and private utilities.

Joy Chen, executive director of Every Fire Survivor's Network, an advocacy group for more than 10,000 Eaton and Palisades fire survivors, said lawmakers are again rushing major policy changes through at the end of the session.

Because of the Legislature's 72-hour-in-print rule, amendments implementing a wildfire insurance plan would have to be in print by midnight Friday for lawmakers to vote on them before the session ends Monday.

Chen joked that she expects to see bill language at the "11th hour and 55 minutes." She called on lawmakers to set the proposals aside and return to them in January.

"A bill gets better, ideally, over the course of the eight months," Chen said. "The way they've done it now, because the governor didn't want to let anybody see the secret bill, he just wanted to introduce it in August and force everyone to vote yes."

Newsom's office did not respond to a request seeking comment.

Chen said extended hearings should examine whether utilities actually need state financial assistance to remain solvent. Her group points to billions of dollars in profits and dividends reported by PG&E, Southern California Edison and Sempra Energy.

"If these three companies really, truly are in a financial emergency such that this huge multibillion dollar bailout must happen right now and cannot wait until January, then fine, bring them to the state legislature, let them testify under oath about the real financials," Chen said.