Lawmakers Look to Protect Californians During Blackouts, Wildfires — and Crack Down on PG&E

With memories of blackouts and wildfires fresh in their minds, a number of state lawmakers are rolling out proposals aimed at keeping Californians safe during power outages and fires — and holding the state’s largest utility, PG&E, accountable.

Among the proposals: bills from two Bay Area lawmakers that would require utilities to provide backup battery packs to the 380,000 Californians who have been identified as medically fragile; require mobile phone companies to provide 72 hours of backup power at cellphone towers; and allow hospitals to run diesel generators without worrying about emissions in the case of a blackout.

“We will do all we can to help our residents deal with any power outages that do occur,” said Orinda Democratic state Sen. Steve Glazer in a statement. “That means ensuring that our most vulnerable residents do not see their lives threatened if power shuts down, and that people can communicate with each other.”

Glazer singled out the bankrupt utility PG&E, which has caused some of the most devastating blazes in recent years and implemented the most widespread precautionary power outages in state history this fall, affecting millions of customers. He said PG&E recently agreed to provide some battery packs to vulnerable Californians.

“But their plan is not good enough — it provides about 500 of these packs, while more than 100,000 people have signed up for the utility’s medical baseline program in the Bay Area alone,” Glazer said.

The bills come as lawmakers reconvene for their 2020 session with huge questions looming about the future of PG&E. The utility filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last January and needs to exit the proceedings by June in order to access a state wildfire insurance fund seen as key to its financial health.

But Sacramento lawmakers aren’t waiting for the bankruptcy restructuring to begin raising questions about whether PG&E is capable of changing.

State Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat, is working on a bill that would make PG&E a publicly owned utility, though he hasn’t released details yet. And Marin Democratic Assemblyman Marc Levine unveiled a proposal this week that would let the state essentially take over an electrical utility like PG&E for a short period of time if state regulators determine that the company isn’t complying with state law.

Levine’s bill would let the California Public Utilities Commission appoint a public administrator for 180 days to oversee public safety operations at a utility if deemed necessary.

“We cannot afford to wait for PG&E to do the right thing,” Levine said. “PG&E has proven themselves incapable of prioritizing public safety over corporate profits. PG&E’s poor judgement continues to harm California residents and our state’s economy, which is more and more dependent upon a clean, safe and reliable supply of electricity. … California’s economy cannot afford to spend another decade in the dark. We must act now.”

Other lawmakers are still planning for what happens once another fire breaks out. Santa Barbara Democratic state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson rolled out legislation this week that would make it easier for cities and universities to automatically enroll residents in their emergency alert systems; and for governments to identify residents who may need extra help in the case of a disaster.

The bill would also let the CPUC collect data from wireless providers about how mobile phone-based emergency alerts actually performed during an emergency. In a statement, Jackson said the need for that data became clear during the power shutoffs last fall.