Yesterday evening, Democrat members of the Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee rejected the Cost of Living Reduction Act, Senate Bill 1326, proposed by Senate Minority Leader Brian W. Jones (R-San Diego). The measure had an urgency clause and had it passed and become law, it would have immediately repealed an unfair law mandating the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) impose an uncapped, fixed charge on electrical bills. Thousands of Californians signed the petition in support of the measure. Click here for the bill’s fact sheet.
“It’s shameful that all 14 Democrats on the Senate Energy Committee refused to even cast a vote Cost of Living Reduction Act,” said Leader Jones. “Thousands of Californians support this measure and their refusal to act is a stark betrayal of the very constituents they claim to represent. The current decision from the PUC may be an improvement over the big utilities’ plan, but the fixed charge still remains excessively high. I am extremely concerned that the PUC now has unchecked power to increase this charge any time it wants. The state needs to be working to lower living costs, not passing more burdens onto renters and households.”
After Senate Republicans raised the alarm for months, the CPUC felt the pressure and rejected the billing scheme proposed by California’s Investor-Owned Utilities (IOUs) that would have added an income-based charge of up to $128 per month. Instead, the CPUC recently approved a $24.15 per month charge coupled with a reduction in usage rates, with tiered charges for lower-income customers. Despite this, Leader Jones contends that the fixed charge remains excessive, especially considering its uncapped nature under current law, allowing the CPUC to increase arbitrarily at any time.
The Cost of Living Act sought to repeal the problematic provisions of the Democrat Assembly Bill 205 (2022), which ordered the CPUC to approve this fixed charge for IOU customers. This bill was never heard, vetted, or voted on in any policy committee and was rammed through the Legislature in a budget trailer bill by the Democrat supermajority at the last minute.
“AB 205 represents everything wrong with the one-party Democrat rule: rushed and flawed legislation detrimental to hardworking Californians,” continued Leader Jones.
Despite the supermajority pushing the bill forward, 22 Democrats who initially supported AB 205 are reversing course and now calling to stop the new fixed charge.
Given that AB 205 mandates the authorization of the income-based fixed charge by July 1, 2024, Jones’s SB 1326 had an urgency clause to take effect immediately upon being signed into law.
SB 1326 is coauthored by the entire Senate Republican Caucus: Senators Brian Dahle (R-Bieber), Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield), Janet Nguyen (R-Huntington Beach), Roger W. Niello (R-Fair Oaks), Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh (R-Yucaipa), Kelly Seyarto (R-Murrieta), and Scott Wilk (R-Santa Clarita).
The measure stalled in the Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee on a 4-0 party-line vote with all Senate Republicans on the Committee (Dahle, Grove, Seyarto, and Wilk) supporting the measure and the following Democrat Senators refusing to even cast a vote: Josh Newman (D-Fullerton), Steven Bradford (D-Gardena), Angelique Ashby (D-Sacramento), Josh Becker (D-Menlo Park), Anna Caballero (D-Merced), Bill Dodd (D-Napa), Maria Elana Durazo (D-Los Angeles), Susan Eggman (D-Stockton), Lena Gonalez (D-Long Beach), Monique Limón (D-Santa Barbara), Dave Min (D-Irvine), Susan Rubio (D-Baldwin Park), Nancy Skinner (D-Berkley), and Aisha Wahab (D-Hayward).