Another Utility Bailout
Another Wealth Transfer From Californians to Wall Street
Governor Newsom is invoking bankruptcy, blackouts and Enron to justify another multibillion-dollar, 11th-hour utility bailout. But his math doesn’t add up. And we have a better plan.
Every Fire Survivor’s Network has put forward a survivor-first proposal that keeps the electricity flowing, protects survivors and holds corporations accountable when they cause catastrophic fires.
Join more than 3.5 million Americans calling on Governor Newsom to put California families before Wall Street.
We Won.
California Legislature Rejects Utility Bailout, Protects Survivors’ Rights
Survivors took on a multibillion-dollar utility bailout. And won.
America is Watching
Governor,
You are no longer just California's governor.
You are a national figure whose decisions shape the country's response to some of its biggest challenges.
The choice you make here will tell Americans whether corporations that destroy communities remain responsible for repairing the harm they cause, or whether those costs can instead be shifted onto the people.
Today, it's wildfire survivors.
Tomorrow, it could shape how America responds to every community devastated by corporate misconduct or negligence.
Governor, this isn't just another utility bailout.
It's the precedent California will set for the nation.
Governor, 11th-Hour Utility Bailouts Are Your Secret Legacy
In 2019, you rushed AB 1054 through the Legislature, requiring customers to contribute $10.5 billion to a wildfire fund designed to shield California’s three utility monopolies when they cause catastrophic wildfires. Lawmakers protested. One called it “a reward for monstrous behavior.” Others called it a sweetheart deal for utilities. KQED
In 2025, you did it again with SB 254. After eight months of legislative hearings, testimony, expert analysis and public debate, you took a consumer protection bill, emptied it of its contents, and inserted 231 pages of new language protecting California’s utility monopolies in the final two days of the session. Lawmakers later said the changes came so late they didn’t understand what they were voting on. The Los Angeles Times called it “effectively a bailout.” Los Angeles Times
Eight months of public process. Replaced at the 11th hour by a secret 231-page utility bailout.
Now you’re at it again, this time with a bill you won’t even name. With just two weeks left in the legislative session, you refuse to say which bill you plan to gut and amend. You refuse to release the new bill language. Californians cannot read it. Survivors cannot respond to it. Lawmakers cannot publicly debate legislation the public has never seen.
From AB 1054 to SB 254 to today, this is your secret legacy: a system that enables California’s three utility monopolies to collect massive profits, dividends and executive pay while shedding onto survivors and taxpayers billions of losses caused by their own negligence and misconduct.
When the financial consequences of catastrophic failure are record profits, dividends and executive pay, the next catastrophic fire becomes a predictable result of the system.|
THE EATON FIRE SHOWS EXACTLY WHAT THAT LOOKS LIKE…
Governor Newsom celebrating the signing of SB 254, his 2025 11th-hour bailout for California’s utility monopolies. (Camille Cohen/AP)
Survivors Lost Everything.
Edison Profits Tripled.
Governor,
Eighteen months after the Eaton Fire:
Two in three survivors remain displaced.
Nearly half have drained their savings.
More than half are approaching the loss of their temporary housing, with nowhere else to go.
Meanwhile:
Edison's profits more than tripled to $4.5 billion.
CEO Pedro Pizarro's pay soared to $16.5 million.
Shareholders dividends increased to $1.3 billion.
Edison is celebrating record profits, record shareholder payouts, and record executive compensation.
All of it was made possible by rate hikes approved by your appointees and paid for by hardworking Californians, including the survivors still struggling to recover.
Governor, Californians didn't agree to reward a monopoly while the families whose homes it destroyed are running out of the money we need to keep a roof over our heads.
Now the Utility Monopolies Are Impersonating Their Victims
Governor,
California’s three for-profit utility monopolies have mounted the largest utility lobbying campaign in California history and spent $366 million building a lobbying and disinformation echo chamber to help pass your latest bailout.
They even created a utility-funded front group called Wildfire Victims First, led by your former Communications Director, to create the appearance that wildfire survivors support another bailout. We don’t.
We are the real wildfire survivors.
They burned down our homes. Now they’re impersonating us to secure another bailout at our expense.
Governor, if your latest utility bailout is good for California, why does it take your former aides, the largest utility lobbying campaign in California history, and a $366 million disinformation machine to sell it?
They Tell Sacramento They Need a Bailout.
They Tell Wall Street the Truth.
Governor,
Your utility monopolies tell Sacramento they cannot afford the consequences of their own negligence and misconduct, or fully compensate the people they have harmed and may harm in the future.
But misleading investors carries serious legal consequences. And in their SEC filings and statements to Wall Street, they tell a very different story.
They have never been more profitable.
And in July 2026, PG&E and Edison told Wall Street that if Sacramento didn't give them the bailout they wanted, they could use their billions to buy back stock instead.
They tell Sacramento they don't have enough money to compensate the people they harm.
They tell Wall Street they have billions ready to reward shareholders.
Now You’re Asking Survivors to Surrender Even More
Governor,
Your latest bailout would protect utility profits by taking away rights from the people they harm.
You are proposing to slash compensation for death, lifelong trauma, pain and irreplaceable loss; eliminate compensation for smoke damage; prevent insurers from recovering billions from the utilities responsible; and make it harder for ordinary families to afford lawyers to fight them.
The result: Californians harmed by utility-caused fires could receive less compensation than victims of utility-caused fires anywhere else in America.
Think about that.
California’s utility monopolies are reporting billions in profits.
Yet the people who lose their homes, their loved ones and their futures would be asked to absorb even more of the loss.
Utilities pay less.
Survivors lose more.
Every Californian picks up more of the bill.
⚠️ WHAT'S AT STAKE ⚠️
California would become the worst state in America to be the victim of a utility-caused fire.
Your latest utility bailout would leave California fire victims with less compensation than victims anywhere else in America while shifting billions in wildfire costs from the corporations responsible onto survivors, insurance policyholders and taxpayers.
If utilities pay less, we all pay more.
Governor, if your latest utility bailout is truly in California’s best interest, release the bill and defend it publicly. Let every Californian see who loses, who pays and who profits.
Do not conceal it until the final days of the legislative session and force it through before the public can respond.
Democracy requires transparency, debate and accountability.
No more secret negotiations. No more 11th-hour utility bailouts.
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Add Your Organization.
Leaders Across America Stand With Survivors
“Survivors should not be asked to bear the cost of protecting the corporations whose failures devastated their community. The NAACP calls on Governor Newsom to reject policies that shield corporate misconduct, and ensure California leads the nation by putting people before powerful interests.”
— Derrick Johnson
President and CEO
NAACP
“We thank Governor Newsom for protecting migrant communities from the Trump administration's attacks. But today, many of those migrant families have lost their homes, and are watching their own recovery being threatened by the governor's efforts to protect Edison instead of survivors. Governor Newsom, change course.”
— Pablo Alvarado
Co-Executive Director
National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON)
“California should not protect corporations collecting billions in profits from the consequences of their actions while wildfire survivors are still fighting to rebuild their lives. Public Citizen calls on Governor Newsom to ensure that accountability, not corporate influence, guides California's response.”
— Rick Morris
Senior Campaigner
Public Citizen
Watch the Press Conferences
Hear directly from survivors, legislators and community leaders about what this proposal would take from families and what a better path looks like.
Watch the press conferences. Then add your name and stand with survivors.
Hundreds of Survivors Wrote to You
When the press conference ended, the conversation with you continued.
Hundreds of Eaton Fire survivors stayed behind to write you a personal postcard.
Handwritten messages from people who have spent eighteen months fighting to rebuild our lives while battling insurance delays, financial ruin, and the uncertainty of whether we'll ever make it home.
We wrote about everything we lost.
We wrote about the futures our children were supposed to have.
We wrote about neighbors we've buried since the fire.
We wrote about hope growing harder to hold onto with every passing month.
Pastor Anthony McFarland gave voice to what so many of us are feeling:
"If the people are hurting and the people are crying, then the leadership is not being effective in doing their jobs."
Governor, these postcards are a plea from Californians asking you not to let another family lose hope before help arrives.
Journalists are invited to use any of these photos freely, with credit to photographer Wally Skalij →
Read the heart-breaking messages we wrote to Governor Newsom →
America is Choosing Survivors Over Corporate Special Interests
This has become a national call for accountability.
No more utility bailouts. Protect survivors.
Public Officials:
Senator Sasha Renée Pérez | Senator Ben Allen, Chair | Former San Francisco Supervisor Jane Kim |
Former CPUC President Loretta Lynch | Claremont Mayor Jennifer Stark |
UC Berkeley School of Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky
National Organizations:
NAACP | Public Citizen | NDLON: National Day Laborer Organizing Network | Consumer Federation of America | Extreme Weather Survivors | CORE Response | Association of Asian American Investment Managers (AAAIM)
California Organizations:
Consumer Watchdog | Courage California | End Child Poverty CA | Essie Justice Group | Rainforest Action Network | Reclaim Our Power | California Alliance for Community Energy | Catalyst California | Community 3.0 | Altadena Brick by Brick
Community Organizations:
Every Fire Survivor's Network | Beautiful Altadena | NAACP Pasadena | Pasadenans Organizing Progress | Altadena Rising | Project Passion | A Resilient Tomorrow | Altadena Earthseed CLT | SURJ Altadena | Eaton Fire Residents United | Altagether | My TRIBE Rise | Day One | Altadena Tenants Union | Clergy Community Coalition
National Media Coverage
A selection of national, state and local coverage
"The coalition is urging Newsom and lawmakers to do more to hold utilities accountable for the fires they ignite, so they don’t happen again."
— Los Angeles Times
"The state’s 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."
— Cal Matters
"It's completely outrageous that wildfire survivors have to worry about their identities being appropriated by the utilities that caused the wildfire that put them out of their home."
— CBS News
"We ask the governor to choose democracy over corporate special interests, and before he changes any California wildfire laws, he goes through the normal legislative process."
— Politico
"I lost my deep sense of security. I lost neighbors I loved and the village that helped me raise my children. Every day since the fire, my family has fought to rebuild while carrying the emotional and financial weight of this disaster. All we are asking is that corporations responsible for these fires pay for the harm they cause."
— L.A. Daily News,
San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pasadena Star-News,
Orange County Register
Every Fact. Fully Documented.
You shouldn’t have to take our word for it.
Every statistic, financial figure, quotation, and factual claim on this page is fully documented in our new Survivor-First Proposal and original Open Letter to Governor Newsom, with citations to government reports, legislative records, public filings, company disclosures, academic research, and news reporting.
There is a Better Way
Since launching this campaign, we have gone further than opposing another bailout.
We developed a survivor-first alternative for California.
It starts with a principle every Californian understands:
You break it. You fix it.
Restore survivors. Make responsible parties bear the cost. Make utilities complete the safety work Californians already paid for. Fix the regulatory incentives that reward catastrophic failure. Keep Eaton Fire survivors housed. Complete the criminal investigation before granting Edison another bailout.
California can keep the electricity flowing, enable survivors to recover and prevent the next catastrophic fire.
Governor Newsom, the Choice is Yours.
Your next decision will tell America whether California protects people harmed by corporate misconduct or protects the corporations responsible.
You can choose another 11th-hour utility bailout.
Another transfer of wildfire costs from California families to Wall Street.
Or you can choose accountability.
No More Utility Bailouts.
Protect Survivors.
Put Californians Before Corporate Special Interests.
Let’s Reach the Next Million Americans
Before Governor Newsom makes his decision, millions more Americans deserve to hear what's at stake.
More than 3.5 million Americans are already calling on Governor Newsom: No more utility bailouts. Protect survivors.
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