Utility-Funded Group Launches Campaign After State Study Finds Wildfire Liability System Unsustainable

A group created with money from Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric and San Diego Gas & Electric began sending mailers and paying for social media ads this spring urging lawmakers to reduce the rising cost of wildfires. The Los Angeles Times reported that Wildfire Victims First is lobbying in Sacramento for proposals in a study ordered by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Those proposals include limiting amounts victims can receive for pain and suffering, capping fees for attorneys representing survivors and requiring property insurers to bear more of the cost of utility-sparked fires. Government investigators found that the three utilities ignited at least six of California’s 20 most destructive wildfires.

The Eaton fire, the second most destructive in state history, killed 19 people and remains under investigation.

Southern California Edison has stated its century-old transmission line is the likely cause. Joy Chen of Every Fire Survivor’s Network wrote in a 15-page letter to Newsom this week that each proposal would shift more of the cost of catastrophic fires away from the corporations responsible and onto survivors, policyholders, taxpayers and the public.

The letter was signed by Public Citizen, Consumer Watchdog and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network.

“The Eaton Fire devastated Altadena, home to one of California’s most historic Black communities,” said Brandon Lamar, president of NAACP Pasadena. ” State Senator Sasha Renee Perez, a Democrat who represents Altadena, said she opposed any bill that would limit payments to victims for pain and suffering.