In an open letter<\/a> to the governor, Chen laid out how she said Newsom has, over the years, already helped utilities shift responsibility for wildfires they cause.
The state\u2019s three major utilities, San Diego Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric, have tremendous influence in California. They have what seems to be an unlimited number of names, entities and affiliates; donate to campaigns by Democrats and Republicans; and together employ hundreds of lobbyists who advocate for hundreds of bills every session. In the 2025-26 session, their donations to sitting legislators totaled more than $1.2 million, according to CalMatters\u2019 Digital Democracy Database<\/a>.
Martinez said the discussions between the governor\u2019s office and California lawmakers are informed by a report<\/a> released in April by the California Earthquake Authority, which under Senate Bill 254<\/a> was tasked with studying how the state should \u201cresponsibly and equitably allocate the burdens from natural catastrophes.\u201d
That bill \u2014 rewritten so late last year that it required the Legislature to extend its session<\/a> \u2014 also allows utilities to shift additional wildfire costs to consumers if their costs exceed a wildfire fund created in 2019 through legislation also backed by the governor. The three major utilities paid half of the $21 billion fund. Californians paid the other half through monthly surcharges on their electric bills. Eaton fire survivors sued<\/a> Edison over what they say is negligence that led to the fire; the cost of claims from the fire are expected to exceed what\u2019s in the fund<\/a>.
Among the April report\u2019s many recommendations is to put more money in the wildfire fund by increasing the surcharge on utility customers by $8.50 a month, bringing the total to $11 a month.
Nathan Click, a spokesperson for Wildfire Victims First, said the campaign is calling on lawmakers to \u201curgently implement\u201d many of the conclusions in the SB 254 report, which he said \u201chighlighted how payouts to financial middlemen \u2014 like trial attorneys, hedge funds and insurance companies \u2014 are often paid out before wildfire victims receive a single dollar for rebuilding.\u201d
Click did not answer CalMatters\u2019 question about why there are no fire survivors groups on the list of more than 200 organizations that support the effort. Most are local chambers of commerce or business groups.
CalMatters contacted nearly a dozen of the organizations. Ten did not respond or would not make their executives available for an interview.
But the chief executive of one of them, Jennifer Gray Thompson, said she changed her mind about participating once she realized the coalition did not include fire victims groups. Her organization, After the Fire, which helps support leaders in communities around the country that have experienced mega fires, was briefly on the list but was removed promptly at her request, she said.
\u201cI\u2019m from Sonoma,\u201d Thompson told CalMatters. \u201cI\u2019m a national advocate for fire victims. I\u2019m definitely not on their side.\u201d Former state Sen. Bill Dodd, a Democrat whom she said did a lot of good for fire survivors when he was in office, was among those who contacted her to solicit her group\u2019s support for the effort, according to emails she shared with CalMatters.
Dodd did not return a phone call and text message from CalMatters. <\/p>\n
![\"Protesters](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1785753309_7_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
A construction crew works on a home as Eaton fire survivors and community supporters attend a news conference in support of Senate Bill 1090, the \u201cKeep Altadena Land in Altadena Hands\u201d Act, in Altadena on June 29. <\/p>\n
(Mario Tama \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The Bay Area Council, another supporter, counts PG&E among its member businesses. Spokesperson Rufus Jeffris said the council \u201cgenerally supports sensible policies and investments that reduce wildfire risk and increase community wildfire resilience and balance the diverse needs of business, consumers and residents.\u201d
A Consumer Watchdog analysis of utilities\u2019 required financial disclosures shows that 66% of the nongovernmental organizations on the list received utility-industry contributions, grants, sponsorships and more worth about $7.3 million from 2023 to 2025.
Click called Consumer Watchdog a \u201cshadow lobby firm for trial attorneys\u201d and said \u201cit should come as no surprise that they are trying to protect a system that prioritizes trial attorneys over wildfire victims.\u201d
Spokespeople for PG&E, Edison and SDG&E referred CalMatters to the Wildfire Victims First campaign regarding the campaign and the legislative proposal.<\/p>\n
What state lawmakers are saying or not saying<\/p>\n
Sen. Ben Allen<\/a> (D-Santa Monica), whose constituents include survivors of the Palisades fire, attended the Friday press conference. Who\u2019s responsible for the costs of wildfire recovery is important to both Allen\u2019s current job and possibly his future one: He is chair of the Senate energy and utilities committee and is running for<\/a> insurance commissioner<\/a>.<\/p>\n Allen\u2019s spokesperson, Ben Cheever, said the senator was not available for an interview about the specifics of the legislative package. But he sent the following statement from Allen: \u201cI will carefully review any proposal put forth to ensure we hold responsible parties accountable while meaningfully reducing risk to improve affordability. We should not simply shift around the costs consumers pay without addressing this more holistically.\u201d<\/p>\n Sen. Sasha Renee Perez (D-Pasadena), who represents Eaton fire survivors, said in an interview with CalMatters that if a legislative package contains the proposals fire survivors suspect they do, she would have a \u201ctremendous issue\u201d with them being presented at the last minute. She also said she has talked with other members of the Legislature who \u201care very upset with what\u2019s taking place.\u201d<\/p>\n Perez said she would oppose any proposal that limits noneconomic damages for fire survivors: \u201cI represent Altadena. I have a friend who lost his sister in the fire. How do you put a price tag on losing your sibling?\u201d The insurance industry\u2019s concerns<\/p>\n Insurance industry representatives say if insurance companies can\u2019t recover wildfire costs from utilities, also known as subrogation, they inevitably will raise premiums. Levi Sumagaysay writes for CalMatters. Jeanne Kuang contributed reporting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you live in California, chances are you\u2019ve seen the ads that say \u201cHome insurance rates skyrocket\u201d and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3659,3653,7,9,8,6752,3705,3288,943,33343,168620,168619,346,1768,4975,21699,168618],"class_list":["post-422458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-allen","tag-bill","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-calmatters","tag-campaign","tag-fire-survivor","tag-governor","tag-insurance-company","tag-insurance-policyholder","tag-legislative-session","tag-office","tag-organization","tag-proposal","tag-utility","tag-wildfire-cost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u201cAny solutions that we have have to [hold] the responsible parties accountable,\u201d Allen said in a room full of fire survivors.<\/p>\n
The senator also said she was \u201cso frustrated and shocked\u201d that SB 254, which started as a bill intended to reduce profits for investor-owned utilities, ended up helping utilities instead during the last three days of last year\u2019s session.
\u201cThat\u2019s not the way government should work,\u201d she said.
CalMatters also contacted other lawmakers or their offices, especially ones who lead related committees. The following Democratic lawmakers\u2019 offices did not respond: Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister)<\/a>; Assemblymember Lisa Calderon (D-Whittier)<\/a>, who leads the insurance committee; and Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris (D-Irvine)<\/a>, who leads the utilities and energy committee.
Spokespeople for Senate President Pro Tem Monique Limon<\/a> (D-Goleta) and Sen. Josh Becker<\/a> (D-Menlo Park) responded with emailed statements similar to that sent by Newsom spokesperson Martinez: \u201cThe current system is unsustainable and not working for fire survivors, utility customers, or insurance policyholders.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t think it\u2019s fair to make insurance policyholders pay more to bail out utility shareholders,\u201d said Denni Ritter, a vice president at the American Property Casualty Insurance Assn.
Ritter also pushed back against the assertion by the utilities\u2019 campaign that insurance companies usually recover their costs from utilities before paying out claims to their policyholders: \u201cIt\u2019s not like AAA goes, \u2018OK, we\u2019ll pay you once we\u2019ve recovered from the utilities.\u2019\u201d
Rex Frazier is president of the Personal Insurance Federation of California, which represents the largest insurers operating in the state. He said this campaign is the latest attempt by utilities to chip away at their industry\u2019s possible liability for wildfires. Sometimes, the insurance industry has had conversations with utilities, he said. That\u2019s not happening this time, he said.
Now he, like other Californians, is seeing the ads from the Wildfire Victims First campaign, whose website says it\u2019s funded by PG&E, SDG&E and SCE shareholders and three other organizations.
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to understand why they\u2019re talking about the insurance market,\u201d Frazier said. \u201cWe can\u2019t get a clear answer about what they have in mind.\u201d<\/p>\n