Tag "Jerry Hill"

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San Jose mayor joins push to break up PG&E

The political pressure on Gov. Gavin Newsom, the Legislature and the California Public Utilities Commission to break up Pacific Gas & Electric has grown rapidly since PG&E ordered power outages from Oct. 9-12 that affected more than 2 million people

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Gov. Newsom pushes for quick action on wildfire plan

Gov. Gavin Newsom wants the Legislature to agree to sweeping reforms in wildfire liability rules by July 12, before lawmakers start a one-month recess. After first calling on legislative leaders to shape new policies to help investor-owned utilities deal with

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As bankruptcy looms, PG&E gets both very good and very bad news

Officials at bankruptcy-bound Pacific Gas & Electric got their best news in years when a state investigation released last week concluded that the 2017 Tubbs fire in Northern California that killed 22 people was the fault of a malfunctioning generator

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PG&E may not survive latest wildfire without more state help

How much of wildfire costs not covered by insurance should be paid by California’s giant investor-owner utilities has been a significant issue since at least 2007. That’s when wildfires ravaged northern and eastern San Diego County, killing two people and

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Utilities’ bid for help on wildfire costs finds renewed hope

California’s three giant investor-owned utilities haven’t given up on hopes that state leaders and regulators may give their shareholders the financial protection they want in an era of frequent massive wildfires linked to climate change – and their hopes don’t seem

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California bill would ban driving while high

  Amid a patchwork landscape of laws and enforcement, California legislators eyed a new bill that would ban getting high behind the wheel. Joined by Assemblyman Evan Low, D-Campbell, state Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, introduced Senate Bill 65 to address an

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Lawmakers look to make marijuana use while driving illegal

When voters decriminalized recreational marijuana use Nov. 8, they also made it illegal to have an open container of pot in a vehicle. But ambiguity in the law may still allow for people to light up while driving, and two

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Who will Gov. Brown believe: MADD or DMV?

Who will Gov. Jerry Brown believe: the Mothers Against Drunk Driving or his own Department of Motor Vehicles? That’s what it boils down to when Brown decides whether to sign Senate Bill 1046, a bill by Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San

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Utilities Commission sides with Edison over family killed by downed power line

The California Public Utilities Commission has had an extremely rough two years. Its former longtime director, Michael Peevey, is facing criminal changes for his actions in arranging for ratepayers to pay 70 percent of the $4.7 billion cost of shuttering

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CA utilities commission plays dangerous game with power grid security

The latest tit-for-tat between lawmakers and the California Public Utilities Commission has brought back bad memories of an in-state — and unsolved — national security threat. The tiff began when the CPUC “hired outside lawyers as federal and state investigators

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