SACRAMENTO, Calif., Aug. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Congressional Representative Ro Khanna has come out against the 11th hour utility bailout that Governor Newsom is pushing for in Sacramento.
Khanna joins former California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, UC Berkeley School of Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky and former Public Utilities Commission President Loretta Lynch in standing with wildfire survivors and signing onto the open letter to Governor Newsom organized by Every Fire Survivor’s Network at DearNewsom.org
“Wildfire survivors have lived through enough and deserve full compensation for what they’ve lost from for-profit utilities that start fires due to their negligence,” Representative Ro Khanna said. “An end of the session bailout that limits wildfire survivors’ rights to recover is an inappropriate use of governmental power on behalf of powerful for-profit utility companies that have spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to influence the Governor’s and legislature’s decisions to the benefit of their shareholders.
“The three for-profit utilities have made billions last year, paid out billions more to shareholders, and paid their CEOs tens of millions of dollars. They don’t need the help, wildfire survivors left homeless by Edison’s failure to remove equipment that sparked the Eaton fire do need help.”
“Wildfire survivors deserve to have their full remedies against utilities whose negligence burns down their homes,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean, UC Berkeley School of Law. “Last-minute policy changes in Sacramento are the worst way to make laws that are fair and balanced. I urge the Legislature not to pass any legislation taking away survivors’ legal rights.”
“There’s nothing worse for democracy than end-of-the-session deals for special interest groups,” said former California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. “This bailout deal will leave survivors less able to recover and insurance policyholders having to pay more for their premiums because utilities will not be required to repay them for fires they start. I cannot imagine a worse outcome for the public than to enrich utilities’ shareholders.”
Consumer Watchdog has been warning the public about the bailout in TV ads appearing on broadcast TV, cable, streaming and social media in markets across the state and targeting the proponents of bailout legislation.
Watch the TV Spots here:
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SOURCE Consumer Watchdog
