Gavin Newsom is bailing out utility companies and abandoning wildfire victims

Gavin Newsom is finishing the last two weeks of his last legislative session as governor by demanding a bailout for the state’s three for-profit utilities, which have given his campaigns and causes nearly $1 million during his term.  The governor’s murky plan aims to limit the ability of wildfire victims, and their insurance companies, to recover damages from utility companies that start wildfires.The plan claims to put “Wildfire Survivors First,” according to his fact sheet, but it is opposed by every legitimate wildfire survivor group. The utility companies back the governor’s plan and they are providing the funding for a phony coalition called “Wildfire Victims First” — insane doublespeak, given that the three utilities caused eight of the 20 worst wildfires in California history. The utilities refuse to talk publicly about the proposed “reforms,” letting Gov.Newsom and the “Wildfire Victims First” coalition do it for them — including through $3.5 million in television ads launching across California in the coming weeks.  The spokesman for “Wildfire Victims First” is Nathan Click, Newsom’s former spokesman, and the TV ad maker is Bearstar, Newsom’s political consultant.  The talking points of the ads — that insurance companies, hedge fund managers and attorneys are taking wildfire survivors’ money — are exactly the talking points from the governor’s “fact sheet.”Real wildfire survivors, local governments, consumer groups and insurance companies all oppose the plan, because it would limit residents’ rights to recover damages for fires started by utilities.   The definition of bailout is rescuing an entity from financial trouble.

Newsom’s move is a textbook bailout in the last days of the legislative session, backed up by a silent threat to veto bills by legislative dissenters when there is little time for scrutiny of his proposals.Utilities don’t need a bailout. When Newsom signed a law in 20...