July 19, 2018

Today, the Legislature announced hearing dates for the joint legislative Conference Committee on Wildfire Preparedness and Response. The committee will meet at 10:30am Wednesday, July 25, at Room 4202 at the State Capitol. The agenda for the Committee’s meeting on July 25th can be found here. More hearing dates will be announced soon. CSAC recently held a press conference and sent a local government association coalition letter to the committee expressing concerns about any potential changes to utility liability law. In addition, CSAC has also been meeting with the committee members’ staff in the Capitol over the past few weeks. The Committee’s website can be found here: http://focus.senate.ca.gov/wildfirecommittee

Co-chair of the Committee, Senator Bill Dodd, released the following statement about the committee’s goals. “Over the coming weeks, a joint committee of Senate and Assembly members will convene a series of public hearings to decide the best way to protect Californians from the continued threat of wildfires,” said Senator Dodd. “We are committed to an open and transparent process that will result in a comprehensive plan for improving the electric system, making it more resistant to future disasters, while safeguarding ratepayers against unfair costs.”

The 10 Committee Members include:

• Senator Bill Dodd, D-Napa;
• Senator Anthony Canella, R-Ceres;
• Senator Ben Hueso, D-San Diego;
• Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara;
• Senator Jeff Stone R-Temecula;
• Assemblymember Chris Holden, D-Pasadena (co-chair);
• Assemblymember Brian Dahle, R-Bieber;
• Assemblymember Chad Mayes, R-Yucca Valley;
• Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes, D-San Bernardino; and
• Assemblymember Jim Wood, D-Healdsburg.

Please contact either: Darby Kernan, CSAC Deputy Executive Director of Legislative Services, at 916-650-8180, email: dkernan@counties.org; or Cara Martinson, CSAC Senior Legislative Representative at 916-650-8113, email: cmartinson@counties.org for more information.