Legislature Stands Up to Powerful Interests, Protects Survivors’ Rights and Rejects Utility Bailout
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — At 7:26 this morning, the California Legislature published the newly amended text of SB 492, confirming a major victory for wildfire survivors, insurance policyholders and California families.
The gut-and-amend legislation, authored by Senator Josh Becker and Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, rejects the harmful provisions proposed this summer and preserves survivors’ fundamental rights to hold utilities accountable for the fires they cause.
Every Fire Survivor’s Network and Consumer Watchdog today expressed profound gratitude to the California Senate and Assembly for listening to the real fire survivors, centering California families and standing firm against some of the most powerful interests in the state.
This is democracy at work. For weeks, wildfire survivors organized, advocated and traveled to Sacramento to make their voices heard. More than 4,700 individuals and organizations representing 3.5 million Americans joined the campaign at DearNewsom.org to oppose the utility bailout. Journalists shone a light on what was at stake. Californians spoke up. And our elected representatives listened, deliberated and acted.
The newly released legislation:
- Does not cap the economic or noneconomic damages survivors may recover.
- Does not deny recovery to smoke-damage survivors outside an artificial fire-perimeter line.
- Does not limit local governments’ ability to recover their losses from utilities that cause fires.
- Does not limit private businesses’ ability to recover their losses from utilities that cause fires.
- Does not limit insurance companies’ right to recover from utilities, which would have shifted the costs of utility-caused fires onto policyholders.
- Does not limit the contingency fees of attorneys representing individual wildfire survivors.
Instead, SB 492 establishes a Fast Pay program intended to help survivors receive compensation more quickly. Crucially, the final language allows survivors to file lawsuits and proceed with discovery, preserving the essential evidence-gathering that enables survivors, regulators, courts and the public to determine how a fire started and hold the responsible utility accountable. Only after discovery would a limited stay apply while a survivor completes the Fast Pay process.
“Survivors from across California came to Sacramento and asked our elected representatives to stand with the people whose homes, communities and lives have been devastated,” said Joy Chen, Executive Director of Every Fire Survivor’s Network. “They listened. And in the face of extraordinary pressure from some of the most powerful interests in our state, they centered survivors and California families.”
“We are profoundly grateful, especially to Senate pro Tem Monique Limón for her leadership,” Chen continued. “Our legislators showed Californians what representative democracy can look like when elected leaders listen to the people they serve. This is an enormous victory for every Californian who could become the victim of the next utility-caused fire.”
“The California Legislature deserves tremendous credit for standing up for wildfire survivors and consumers in the face of intense political pressure,” said Jamie Court, President of Consumer Watchdog. “Senate and Assembly leaders protected Californians’ rights and refused to make families pay for fires caused by utilities. This was a remarkable display of courage by our elected representatives. Senate pro Tem Monique Limón, in particular, deserves tremendous respect for standing up for the interests of consumers and survivors.”
The legislation leaves California’s most urgent wildfire problem unresolved: Three for-profit utility monopolies have caused three of the five costliest wildfires in world history and keep burning down California communities.
Artwork by Eaton Fire survivor Keni Arts.
When the Legislature returns in January, survivors and consumer advocates look forward to tackling that fundamental question: How do we stop these companies from causing the next catastrophic fire?
Every Fire Survivor’s Network’s Survivor-First Proposal offers concrete solutions to strengthen prevention, ensure utilities properly spend the billions collected annually for wildfire mitigation, increase accountability and protect the people harmed when utilities fail.
Read the Survivor-First Proposal →
View photos and videos of survivors in Sacramento in August 24-25→
Watch a video recap of TV news coverage of survivors’ Sacramento trip →
View photos of survivors’ July 24 press conference in Altadena →
Journalists are invited to use these assets freely without attribution.
Please credit the artwork to Keni Arts.
Joy Chen | Executive Director | Every Fire Survivor’s Network | [email protected]
Jamie Court | President | Consumer Watchdog | [email protected]
