California Senator Drafts Bill to Turn PG&E Into Public Utility

  • Scott Wiener wants to force bankrupt utility to become public
  • Preliminary plan underscores frustration amid outages, fires
Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
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California State Senator Scott Wiener said he’s planning to introduce a bill next year that would force bankrupt power giant PG&E Corp. to become a public utility.

“We are looking at legislation to force PG&E to become a public utility, but that’s still in the early planning stages and we haven’t settled on the exact details yet,” the San Francisco Democrat said in a phone interview. He intends to introduce “some sort of legislation forcing them to become a public utility” by the mid-February deadline for new bills, Wiener said.