Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Democratic leaders are taking a hands-off approach towards a state commission's recommendation to change the liability standard for major utilities with regard to wildfires.
California's current legal standard requires utilities, such as Pacific Gas and Electric, to pay for damages from wildfires caused by their equipment, regardless of whether they acted negligently.
The commission found in a new report that standard harms utilities, ratepayers and victims. As a reform, the commission recommends that the state make it easier for utilities to recover their wildfire costs if regulators find they acted responsibly.
It's also recommending the state charge a fee for home development in high fire risk areas.
But Newsom, state Senate President pro tempore Toni Atkins and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon released a joint statement Wednesday that came up short of embracing the recommendations.
Newsom and the legislative leaders said they support giving utilities more certainty about how they can recoup wildfire costs from their customers and creating access to bridge financing for utilities to pay wildfire claims while officials review applications to change rates paid by consumers.
PG&E has asked regulators in December to let it raise rates by an average of $10.57 per month for additional wildfire protections, such as installing more resilient poles and increased inspection of the 2,000 miles of power lines that crisscross the Bay Area and other areas from the Central Coast to Northern California.
Cal Fire has since determined that PG&E's equipment faltered and caused last year's Camp Fire, which killed more people and destroyed more buildings than any wildfire in state history.