California Committee Dismisses Bill to Block Fixed Rate Utility Charge Based on Income

The bill sought to set a cap of $10 for monthly fixed charges, in contrast to the PUC’s plan to have tiered fixed rates.

“The state needs to be working to lower living costs, not passing more burdens onto renters and households,” said state Sen. Brian Jones. Above, Jones at a press conference in Sacramento on Feb. 26, 2024. Travis Gillmore/The Epoch Times

Democratic lawmakers on the Senate’s Energy, Utility, and Communications Committee chose not to vote on Senate Bill 1326—which would have repealed a 2022 law mandating higher fixed rate charges on utility bills—thus pulling the plug on the measure April 22.

“It’s shameful that all 14 Democrats on the Senate Energy Committee refused to even cast a vote,” the bill’s author, Republican Leader Sen. Brian W. Jones, said in an April 23 press release. “Thousands of Californians support this measure and their refusal to act is a stark betrayal of the very constituents they claim to represent.”