California Utilities Get $21 Billion Backstop in Newsom Win
- Governor ‘relieved’ bill passes before height of fire season
- Frenzied effort from team led to broad legislative support
This article is for subscribers only.
For a leader with grand ambitions of tackling big issues from health care to taking on President Donald Trump, California Governor Gavin Newsom has spent much of his first six months in office bogged down in a crisis at home.
Two days after his November election, the state’s deadliest wildfire decimated an entire town, with PG&E Corp.’s equipment blamed as the likely cause. The January bankruptcy of California’s largest utility set off a scramble for Newsom to unite lawmakers, power companies and interest groups in finding a way to cover the billions of dollars in liabilities from devastating blazes.