Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Energy Finance Transmission topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Assembly advances AB 825 to create public financing tools for transmission and lower electricity costs; bill passes 45-5
Summary
AB 825 (Petrie-Norris) seeks to address rising electricity costs by creating public financing and other measures to reduce transmission and wildfire mitigation costs. The bill passed the Assembly 45-5 after heated debate over state role and process.
AB 825, authored by Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, passed the Assembly on May 20 by a vote of 45 to 5. The bill proposes a package of policies intended to lower rising electric bills by addressing major cost drivers, including wildfire mitigation and the cost of transmission infrastructure.
Petrie-Norris told members that Californians face rapidly rising electricity rates and that the bill would combine strategies — public financing for transmission, permitting improvements, and a review of ratepayer-funded programs — to reduce costs. She said combined measures in the bill could save California ratepayers an estimated $1 billion to $2 billion a year.
Opponents from the floor argued the bill could expand state control over energy infrastructure in ways that risked higher costs, reduced environmental review, or duplicated existing processes. Assemblymember Dixon said the bill was “a Trojan horse” that could dismantle the current utility structure and warned about borrowing large sums and shifting risk to ratepayers. Assemblymember DeMaio and others argued the state could not deliver projects cheaper than private utilities and raised high-speed rail as an example of a costly public project.
Supporters — including Assemblymember Rogers and the bill’s author — said the current system forces customers to pay high borrowing costs through investor-owned utilities and that public financing or different ownership structures could lower borrowing costs and save ratepayers money. The author said the bill is not a state takeover of projects but establishes frameworks for public financing and public-private partnerships.
The Assembly closed debate and recorded a final tally of 45 ayes and 5 noes. The bill moves to the Senate, where the author has said she will continue to work with interested members on permitting and other concerns.
