Bill Text: CA ACR184 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Introduced

California Assembly Concurrent Resolution 184 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Public utilities: Pacific Gas and Electric Company: board of directors.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 6)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-03-10 - From printer. [ACR184 Detail]

Download: California-2019-ACR184-Introduced.html

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Concurrent Resolution

No. 184

Introduced by Assembly Member Low
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Aguiar-Curry, Kalra, Ting, and Wood)
(Coauthor: Senator McGuire)

March 09, 2020

Relative to public utilities.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

ACR 184, as introduced, Low. Public utilities: Pacific Gas and Electric Company: board of directors.

This measure would call on the board of directors of both the Pacific Gas and Electric Company and the Pacific Gas and Electric Corporation to resign their positions to make way for a board of directors that will support the reformation of the practices and culture of the utility. The measure would also call on the shareholders of the Pacific Gas and Electric Corporation to select a board of directors that will prioritize the utility’s duty to provide safe and affordable electricity over its requirement to enrich its shareholders.

Fiscal Committee: NO

WHEREAS, An explosion of a gas pipeline in San Bruno, California, in 2010 that killed eight people was linked to Pacific Gas and Electric’s (PG&E) willful failure to address recordkeeping deficiencies concerning its larger natural gas pipelines; and

WHEREAS, In 2016, a federal jury found PG&E guilty of six felony counts—five violations of the Natural Gas Safety Pipeline Act of 1968, and one count of corruptly obstructing a federal investigation in relation to the San Bruno gas line explosion; and

WHEREAS, The 2015 Butte Fire, which burned 70,868 acres and killed two people, was linked to poor PG&E equipment maintenance; and

WHEREAS, PG&E’s faulty equipment is still under suspicion as the cause for the 2017 Tubbs Fire, which killed 22 people, destroyed 5,643 structures, and burned 36,807 acres; and

WHEREAS, The 2018 Camp Fire killed 85 people, destroyed 18,804 buildings, and obliterated over 95 percent of the towns of Paradise and Concow, making it the most disastrous wildfire in California history; and

WHEREAS, An investigation by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire) concluded that the Camp Fire was the result of lack of maintenance for transmission lines owned and operated by PG&E; and

WHEREAS, Tower 27/222, a 99-year-old transmission tower suspected of being the source of the Camp Fire, had not been inspected during the decade leading up to the Camp Fire, and was still in use despite PG&E’s own estimate in forms filed with federal regulators that such towers have “about a 75-year life expectancy”; and

WHEREAS, PG&E admitted that its equipment malfunctioned near the starting point of the 2019 Kincade Fire, which destroyed 374 buildings and burned 77,758 acres; and

WHEREAS, Internal PG&E documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act illustrated PG&E’s neglect to update high-voltage lines, as well as the company’s awareness that neglect was increasing the risk of starting wildfires; and

WHEREAS, An internal PG&E presentation in 2017 detailed that the life expectancy of its transmission towers was 65 years, and the average age of its towers was 68 years; and

WHEREAS, Electrical utilities employ deenergization events during certain weather conditions to avoid starting fires with live, downed lines; and

WHEREAS, Of 2,300,000 customers of the three major California utilities who lost electrical service in 2019 due to planned deenergization events, 2,000,000 were PG&E customers; and

WHEREAS, Many customers were without power for multiple days, including customers on life support and others with medical need; and

WHEREAS, In November 2019, the Public Utilities Commission launched an investigation into the shutoffs to ensure that the shutoffs were only occurring “when absolutely necessary and are based on actual and substantiated conditions”; and

WHEREAS, PG&E announced that it would likely take 10 years before planned deenergization events will not be a regular part of its wildfire mitigation plan; and

WHEREAS, In the midst of filing for bankruptcy in 2019, citing $30,000,000 in liabilities, PG&E proposed to pay $16,000,000 in bonuses to top groups of executives; and

WHEREAS, During the last decade, PG&E rates have regularly increased while the Corporation of PG&E has reported hundreds of millions of dollars in profits; and

WHEREAS, Most of the current PG&E board of directors represent Wall Street and have no ties to California; and

WHEREAS, Under the tenure of leadership that placed shareholder profits before public safety, PG&E instigated an estimated 1,500 fires from 2014 to 2017, and 6 of California’s 20 worst wildfires, all of which have been associated to failures of equipment owned and maintained by PG&E; and

WHEREAS, It is no longer sufficient to allow the same leadership that has overseen this gross negligence to continue directing the operations of PG&E; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature calls on the board of directors of both the Company and Corporation of PG&E to resign their positions to make way for a board of directors that will support the reformation of the practices and culture of the utility; and be it further

Resolved, That the Legislature calls on the shareholders of the Corporation of PG&E to select a board of directors that will prioritize the utility’s duty to provide safe and affordable electricity over its requirement to enrich its shareholders; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.