Legislative Update

September 5, 2024

The Good: TURN-Sponsored Bills on Governor’s Desk

AB 2847 (Addis) passed both houses and is heading to the Governor’s desk! 
AB 2847 encourages the CPUC to require full disclosure from utilities of the ratepayer costs for each of the 20–50 years to repay financing for capital investments, not just the first few years. 

AB 3264 (Petrie-Norris) passed both houses and is heading to the Governor’s desk! 
AB 3264 requires the CPUC and Energy Commission to study alternative financing for transmission, as well as create affordability metrics that will reflect total household spending on energy-related costs — including transportation fuels, propane, etc.

SB 1142 (Menjivar) passed both houses and is heading to the Governor’s desk! 
AB 1142 directs the CPUC to consider and adopt additional protections to prevent utility customers from being disconnected from utility service or help them get reconnected.  

The Bad: TURN-Sponsored Bills that Failed to Make it Through

AB 2054 (Bauer-Kahan) died in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
AB 2054 would have required shareholders to cover 50% of utility overspending recorded in balancing accounts, and memorandum accounts, that exceeded forecasted amounts adopted in the GRC.  Amendments would have required a study of balancing account spending.  

SB 938 (Min) died in the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee.
SB 938 would have protected ratepayers from paying for utility lobbying and PR advertising.  Opposition from PG&E, SoCal Edison, and SDG&E was responsible for killing this proposal.

TURN partnered with the Energy Policy Institute and Earth Justice. 

SB 1003 (Dodd) died due to a lack of the Assembly floor vote prior to Saturday's midnight deadline. 
SB 1003 would have saved billions, transferring authority for WMP approval from the safety-only mandate of the Office of Energy Safety, to CPUC, which prioritizes cost-effective wildfire spending.

Opposition from PG&E, SoCal Edison, and SDG&E was responsible for killing this proposal.

Ratepayer Securitization of Capital Costs died before it went into print.

TURN's proposal to replace $15 billion of capital investments through utility financing, with public financing through securitization, would save ratepayers $13 billion over the next 30 years.

Opposition from PG&E, SoCal Edison, and SDG&E was responsible for killing this proposal.