Gavin Newsom and the Legislature deserve kudos for enacting a hopefully good — if not perfect — law last week aimed at propping up private electric utilities and saving them from going belly up in the next devastating wildfire. More importantly, the bond rating agencies threatened to downgrade all private utilities’ credit ratings if lawmakers failed to act by last Friday. This was considered unfair and potentially financially crippling for Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric Co. Besides, SDG&E has been widely praised for its equipment maintenance and wildfire prevention efforts. When the lawmakers return from vacation, they’ll debate about 20 other bills involving wildfire prevention and insurance availability.

Source: Los Angeles Times July 18, 2019 07:07 UTC