With more than 1 million acres burning in California, state lawmakers are pushing a last-minute proposal that would extend an existing fee on electricity bills to fund $500 million for immediate wildfire response and another $2.5 billion over time for climate resiliency and fire mitigation projects.
The legislation adopts the same financing mechanism as a 2019 law that extended a fee on utility bills for 15 years to finance bonds for a $21-billion insurance pool to pay utility wildfire damages. This time, the same fee would be extended for another decade until 2045 — costing ratepayers 96 cents a month, or more than $3 billion over 10 years — for bonds to pay for wildfire prevention work, according to a document reviewed by The Times and interviews with lawmakers and legislative staff.
“It would be negligent for the Legislature to end our session without taking immediate action to generate more resources for battling wildfires across California and mitigating the resulting environmental damage,” said Assemblyman Kevin Mullin (D-South San Francisco), a coauthor of the bill. “It is also imperative that we better prepare our state for longer and more dangerous fire seasons to come.”
The plan was introduced late Tuesday as wildfires raged up and down the state. While some of California’s deadliest wildfires in recent years have been caused by failed utility equipment, state officials said lightning strikes sparked the major fires burning in Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties, and other parts of the state.
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