• On Oct. 22, Gov. Gavin Newsom sent PG&E CEO William Johnson a letter demanding the utility company improve how it handles public safety power shutoffs. Utility companies initiate these shutoffs to reduce the risk of their infrastructure sparking wildfires. Newsom sent his letter to Johnson a few weeks after PG&E initiated widespread shutoffs in Northern California, and a few days before numerous fires broke out throughout the state, including the Tick Fire in Los Angeles County and the Kincade Fire in Sonoma County. In his letter, Newsom said the company needs to reduce the number of customers affected during shutoffs, as well as improve its communication with customers regarding these shutoffs. “While the immediate goal should be to better manage the current anticipated [shutoffs], PG&E’s short-term objections should include steps to ensure that as few people as possible are impacted by any future [shutoff] decision,” Newsom said in the letter.
• Assemblymember Jordan Cunningham (R-San Luis Obispo) announced on Oct. 24 that he plans to coauthor legislation requiring PG&E to reimburse residents and small businesses for expenses they pay due to the public safety power shutoffs initiated by the energy company. “For too long, utilities have had little incentive to fire-harden their vulnerable infrastructure, and now the ‘solution’ is to shut off power. … It’s only fair that the utilities’ shareholders be responsible for any losses incurred by shutting off the power,” Cunningham said in a statement from his office. During an emergency California Public Utility Commission meeting in San Francisco on Oct. 18, PG&E’s CEO Williams Johnson said the shutoffs could continue for the next decade.
• Gov. Gavin Newsom signed state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson’s (D-Santa Barbara) legislation, Senate Bill 228, into law on Oct. 11. The legislation creates a policy framework for the state’s Master Plan on Aging and Disabled Californians, which was created through an executive order Newsom signed in June. Through the master plan, the state will attempt to address some of the challenges the state’s aging population is facing. “Every day 1,000 Californians turn 65 years old, and in the next 20 years, senior citizens will represent 20 percent of our state’s population. … Californians are living longer, and they are facing new challenges and uncertainties, including issues like health care, housing, and overall services and support,” Newsom said in a news release. The legislation requires the state’s secretary of the Health and Human Services Agency and the Director of the California Department of Aging (CDA) to lead the development of the master plan. The bill also requires the CDA to file a report by October 2020 that identifies ways the department can improve its organization to ensure it effectively implements the plan.
• On Oct. 23, Congressmember Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) stated his support for a bill the House of Representatives passed on Oct. 23 that attempts to prevent foreign governments from interfering with U.S. elections. According to a graphic accompanying Carbajal’s statement on Twitter, The SHIELD Act improves transparency in online advertisements; requires offers of campaign assistance from a foreign government to be reported to federal investigators; and eliminates loopholes in existing laws that allow foreign governments to launder money in elections. “Elections are the bedrock of our democracy,” Carbajal said on Twitter. “We will not stand by as foreign adversaries try to undermine our election security.”
This article appears in Oct 31 – Nov 6, 2019.
