The State Senate voted to concur in amendments to SB 254, an expansive energy affordability and resilience bill that combines measures to increase climate bill credits to households, recapitalize the Wildfire Fund and require stricter scrutiny of investor-owned utilities.

Senator Becker, presenting the bill, described SB 254 as “California's most ambitious energy affordability bill in decades,” saying it combines the senator's original SB 254 proposal with the Assembly’s affordability measure and elements of the administration’s wildfire fund proposal. Key features described on the floor include:

- Wildfire fund recapitalization: the bill would add $18 billion in capital to a wildfire fund, split evenly between utility shareholders and ratepayers, using an extension of an existing surcharge that the author said would not increase current bills before 2036. Supporters said the financing structure reduces risk and prevents beneficiaries from bearing the entire burden of catastrophic fire costs.

- Securitized financing for utility investments: the bill requires utilities to use securitized (debt) financing in lieu of equity for roughly $6 billion of investments, a change projected by supporters to save roughly $3 billion in financing costs over a decade.

- Transmission accelerator program: the bill establishes a program to use public funding and lower-cost financing to accelerate transmission and lower long-term system costs; supporters cited studies that estimate $3 billion in annual savings if sufficient projects use the approach.

- Stronger oversight and tighter timing for new customer interconnections: bill language would allow consumer advocates and the Public Advocates Office tighter scrutiny over utility profits and require timelier electric service for new housing and EV charging projects.

Senator Wahab, a joint author, said the bill will increase the average climate credit seen on utility bills by about $200 annually per household (the figure was described as an estimate on the floor tied to the broader package) and stressed that the bill prioritizes ratepayer affordability and wildfire risk reduction.

Opponents urged caution. Senator Sciarra said borrowing and creating a capital stack for catastrophic fire payouts is not a long-term solution and cautioned about the bill’s fiscal complexity. Senator Searto and others called for more deliberation and alternative approaches that rely less on surcharges passed to ratepayers. Supporters, including Senator Perez and others who spoke in favor, argued the measure protects ratepayers from bearing all wildfire liabilities under California’s inverse-condemnation rules and will prevent credit downgrades and related rate increases.

On final call, the clerk announced the tally for the concurrence vote: “Ayes 30. Nos 2. The Assembly amendments are concurred in.” Supporters said the bill will proceed to the next stage of enactment and that implementation details and oversight will follow at agencies such as the California Public Utilities Commission.