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The Westside Community Park’s popular dog park has been named in honor of Ron Raetz, seen here with the new sign. Photo courtesy of the Westside Community Park Committee.


LAKEPORT, Calif. – Recently the Westside Community Park Committee completed installation of the “Ron Raetz Dog Park” sign at the Westside Community Park in Lakeport.

Following a request by the committee to the Lakeport City Council, the council approved the naming of the dog park in recognition of Raetz’s contributions to the park’s development.

Raetz served as the chairperson of the Westside Community Park Committee for eight years.

During his tenure almost $80,000 was raised towards the park’s development, the initial grading and storm drainage was completed on the Jane Barnes Field, the Westside Community Park entry sign was installed and the picnic area at the Rotary Field was constructed.

In addition, Raetz was the driving force behind the construction of the dog park. Without his leadership the dog park might not have been constructed.

In addition to his service on the Westside Community Park Committee , Raetz was a teacher in the Upper Lake High School District, a member of the district’s Board of Trustees and the president of the Konocti Youth Soccer League for 10 years.

In 2017 he saw the installation of lights for the Upper Lake High School football field. The “Lights of Love,” as that project was known, was spearheaded by Raetz.

Raetz has been a leader in the creation of recreation facilities in Lake County and as such it is fitting that the dog park which he worked so diligently to see completed should be named in his honor.

The purchase and installation of the “Ron Raetz Dog Park” sign was made possible by community donations.

Darren Jordon, owner of Rock Creation, donated his skill to create the footing for the sign with concrete donated by Clear Lake Redi-Mix.

The finally installation was completed with the assistance of the city of Lakeport Public Works Department.
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Jeremy David Morgan, 30, of Lakeport, Calif., was arrested on Thursday, January 4, 2018, for driving under the influence causing bodily injury following a vehicle wreck near Lucerne, Calif., that injured him and three others. Lake County Jail photo.

LUCERNE, Calif. – A Lakeport man was arrested for driving under the influence of drugs on Thursday night following a two-vehicle wreck that injured him and three others.

The California Highway Patrol’s Clear Lake Area office reported that 30-year-old Jeremy David Morgan was arrested after the crash.

The CHP said the crash occurred shortly after 6:30 p.m. Thursday on Highway 20 east of Cora Drive, just east of Lucerne.

The CHP said Morgan was driving his 2001 Jeep Cherokee westbound on Highway 20 at a stated speed of between 40 and 50 miles per hour.

Riding with Morgan was 29-year-old Sabrina Contino of Lakeport, who was seated in the right front passenger seat, and 49-year-old Teddy Teel of Nice, who was riding in the rear of the vehicle, the CHP said.

At the same time, Kat Salido, 40, of Cotati was driving her 2004 Hyundai Sonata eastbound on Highway 20 at a stated speed of between 40 and 45 miles per hour, with her 3-year-old son, Kaysen, seated in the right rear seat, according to the CHP report.

The CHP said Morgan lost control of his Jeep as he attempted to negotiate a curve in the roadway. His Jeep began to rotate sideways as it left the westbound lane and entered into the eastbound lane.

It was at that point that Salido rounded the same curve and collided with the right rear of Morgan’s Jeep, which subsequently flipped onto its roof and slid across the roadway before coming to rest facing a northwesterly direction, blocking the eastbound lane of Highway 20, the CHP said.

Salido’s Hyundai came to rest facing an easterly direction, also blocking the highway’s eastbound lane, according to the report.

The CHP said Morgan, who was not wearing a seat belt, suffered minor injuries. Contino, who was wearing her seat belt at the time of the crash, and Teel, who was not wearing his seat belt, both suffered major head and neck injuries and were later transferred to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.

Due to weather conditions on Thursday night, air ambulances had not initially been available to respond to the scene to transport the patients, according to radio reports.

Both Salido and her son were wearing their seat belts, with Salido having a complaint of pain to her chest. The child was uninjured. The CHP said both she and her child were released at the scene by medical personnel.

Following the collision, the CHP said Morgan was determined to have been under the influence of a controlled substance at the time of the wreck and subsequently was placed under arrest.

Morgan was booked into the Lake County Jail early Friday morning, with his bail set at $500,000. He is tentatively scheduled to make an initial court appearance on Monday.

The CHP said the crash remains under investigation.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
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Van Allen Hubbard, 56, of Ukiah, Calif., was arrested on Monday, January 1, 2018, for charges including driving under the influence, drug and weapon possession, elder abuse and grand theft. Mendocino County Jail photo.

NORTH COAST, Calif. – A Ukiah man arrested on New Year’s Day for driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs was found with illegal weapons as well as thousands of dollars in minted gold and silver coins that authorities said he stole from clients he served as an In-Home Supportive Services worker.

Van Allen Hubbard, 56, was arrested following a traffic stop shortly after 5 a.m. Monday in Redwood Valley, according to the Ukiah Area office of the California Highway Patrol.

The CHP said two officers responded to assist the Coyote Valley Tribal Police Department with a possible DUI driver stopped at Coyote Valley Boulevard just east of Highway 101.

One of the officers conducted a DUI investigation and Hubbard, the driver, was arrested on suspicion of driving a vehicle under the combined influence of alcohol and drugs, the CHP said.

During a vehicle inventory, the CHP said the officers discovered several dangerous and illegal weapons in the vehicle as well as a large amount of rare minted sealed gold and silver coins, the value of which is estimated between $15,000 and $20,000, the CHP said. A locked safe not belonging to Hubbard also was found in the vehicle.

The CHP said Hubbard couldn’t account for the items the officers found in his vehicle at that time, which led to further investigation.

On Tuesday, search warrants were obtained for Hubbard’s storage unit and vehicle, which resulted in the seizure of an additional quantity of rare minted sealed gold and silver coins with an estimated value of $10,000 to $15,000, according to the CHP.

Evidence developed in this case indicated that these items belonged to clients of Hubbard’s when Hubbard was working as an In-Home Supportive Services provider, the CHP said.

The CHP said Hubbard was booked into the Mendocino County Jail for driving under the combined influence of alcohol and drugs as well as being in possession of stolen property, possession of dangerous weapons including a sap or baton, elder abuse and additional lesser charges. His bail was set at $25,000.

Authorities said the exact value of the coins is under investigation.

The case has been submitted to the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office for prosecution, the CHP said.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – North Bay legislators have officially introduced a bill that will set statewide emergency alert protocols.

The new legislation follows the devastating October firestorm that ravaged Sonoma, Napa, Lake and Mendocino counties, destroying more than 6,000 homes, scorching more than 170,000 acres, causing billions in damage and resulting in the death of more than 40 residents.

“The size and scope of wildland fire events in California are only getting worse. It's clear there are shortcomings in our emergency alert system and residents deserve timely notifications and up-to-date information,” Sen. Mike McGuire (D-North Bay) said. “Lives depend on the Legislature and governor taking swift action to ensure statewide emergency alert standards are adopted, training is implemented and funding is secured to ensure communities big and small have reliable alert systems deployed.”

SB 833, introduced this week by Sen. McGuire, along with joint authors Senators Bill Dodd and Jerry Hill, and principal co-authors, members of the Assembly Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, Marc Levine and Jim Wood, creates statewide emergency alert protocols.

There are several different emergency warning systems available to counties that alert residents through cell phone calls, text messages and landline recordings.

Some systems require residents to “opt-in” to the alert notifications, and others have limitations on how they can be targeted in specific areas.

SB 833 will require every county in California to adopt the up-to-date Wireless Emergency Alert system with trained operators who can implement an evacuation order using the alert system.

The legislation will also set out standards for when counties should use the system, the legislation will mandate that alerts have to be sent out via landline telephones and mobile phones along with other communication mediums, it will advance communication between counties and the state at the start of a disaster and it will create guidelines and protocols for when and how the alerts should be sent.

“When wildfires and other disasters strike, it’s critical that impacted residents get emergency alerts as quickly as possible,” said Sen. Bill Dodd (D-Napa). “Regardless of where you live in California, everyone should be able to rely on a comprehensive, modern warning systems that gets information to the people who need it, when they need it. Emergency alerts can save lives, which is why Senator McGuire and I are partnering with our colleagues in the state Assembly to advance a system that meets our twenty-first century needs.”

“The raging wildfires endangering Californians across the state is without precedent. Lawmakers must protect our communities with the best safety notifications available to prevent loss of life during emergency situations,” said Assemblymember Marc Levine (D-Marin County). “All California communities should have dependable emergency alert systems and be notified when lives are in danger.”

“The recent devastating fires in Northern California have put laser focus on our need to fix our emergency notification system,” said Assemblymember Jim Wood (D-Healdsburg). As we now see with the fires in Southern California, the time is now to protect our residents with a system that works for everyone, both urban and rural.”

“As a member of the Joint Committee on Emergency Management, we heard testimony this week on how critical it is for local governments to alert our mutual constituents in times of crisis,” said Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters). “I’m happy to join in this effort with my legislative and local government colleagues, and I look forward to continuing our work together that started during the North Bay wildfires. As the recovery continues, we must also stay vigilant to protect people in the event of future emergencies.”

“Last year’s fires exposed deadly problems in our emergency alert patchwork,” said Senator Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties). “I applaud Senator McGuire for leading this effort to make sure that the state and local governments properly notify and evacuate residents to save lives during emergencies.”
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A common disease has been confirmed as the killer of thousands of waterfowl along Clear Lake’s Northshore.

Over the last few weeks, dead ducks and other waterfowl have been found on Clear Lake’s shoreline in the Lucerne area, as Lake County News has reported.

“It is avian cholera,” Kyle Orr, spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, confirmed to Lake County News.

As many as 3,500 waterfowl are estimated to have been affected by this latest avian cholera case, Orr said.

Orr said that on Wednesday, the agency picked up 2,600 dead or dying waterfowl on Clear Lake.

He said the impacted species include, but are not limited to, ruddy ducks, northern pintails and mallards.

Orr said CDFW doesn’t plan any other further response at this time.

“We’re back in a monitoring phase,” he said.

Anyone who picks up any dead waterfowl should use protective clothing that can be disposed of or disinfected, Orr said.

Additionally, he said disposal methods that should be used for the dead waterfowl are incineration or dead burial.

The National Wildlife Health Center reported that avian cholera in wild birds is primarily caused by the type one strain of the bacterium Pasteurella multocida, which most commonly affects ducks and geese, coots, gulls and crows.

The bacteria can be transmitted in a variety of ways – bird-to-bird contact, through infected birds’ feces and other secretions, through food containing the bacteria and aerosol transmission, the center said.

The illness is highly contagious and is known to cause die-offs very rapidly. Quick action, including carcass collection, is used to prevent the disease from spreading, officials reported.

In 2007, an avian cholera die-off on the Northshore claimed more than 8,000 waterfowl, primarily ruddy ducks, about the same number that died in a January 2004 outbreak, as Lake County News has reported.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
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Parents Melody Dawson-Day and Philip Day pose with their new son Bodhi David, held by big sister Eden. Bodhi was born on Tuesday, January 2, 2018, making him the first baby to be born in the new year in Lake County, Calif. Photo courtesy of Adventist Health Clear Lake.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The first baby born in Lake County in 2018 was still comfortably in utero as midnight struck on Jan. 1.

It wasn’t until Tuesday, Jan. 2, that Lake County’s New Year’s baby made his arrival into the world.

Bodhi David Day was born at 6:11 p.m. Tuesday at Adventist Health Clear Lake to happy parents Philip Day and Melody Dawson-Day and big sister Eden.

Little Bodhi was delivered by Dr. Kimberly Fordham, MD, and Women’s Care Unit nurse Hayley Burt, RN. He was a healthy 7 pounds, 9 ounces.

Mother Melody Dawson-Day was also born at Adventist Health Clear Lake, making Bodhi a second generation Adventist Health Clear Lake baby.

“Each new baby is a reason for celebration, but welcoming a new life at the beginning of a new year is special for our entire team,” said Al Hansen, RN, director of Surgery and Women’s Care at Adventist Health Clear Lake. “All year long, we are privileged to provide our community with the healthiest possible beginning for each their growing family.”

The family took home a baby bundle full of special gifts, including a pack and play.

Adventist Health Clear Lake’s Women’s Care Unit provides labor and delivery services to hundreds women and their infants each year. For more information visit the “Services” section on www.adventisthealthclearlake.org.

Bodhi David Day, the first baby of 2018 born in Lake County, Calif. Photo courtesy of Adventist Health Clear Lake.
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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – On Friday the Independent Forensic Team released additional findings from its review of the February 2017 Lake Oroville Spillways incident.

The report builds on the team’s interim memo from September 2017 that identified physical causes of the incident.

While the California Department of Water Resources is in the process of fully reviewing this lengthy report, the department intends to incorporate the latest findings into its ongoing efforts.

“We strongly supported having an independent assessment of the spillway failure and take the findings very seriously,” said DWR Director Grant Davis. “This report is consistent with the independent team’s initial technical findings from last May which were fully incorporated in the design of the reconstructed spillways. As we have done in the past, we will carefully assess this report, share it with the entire dam safety community and incorporate the lessons learned going forward to ensure California continues to lead the nation on dam safety.”

The department said it has already made significant progress to bolster the dam safety program to include comprehensive re-evaluations of every spillway with attributes similar to Lake Oroville’s.

These re-evaluations go far beyond the standard inspections to include extensive hydrologic, structural and geotechnical work and a thorough investigation of records.

In May, DWR began planning for a comprehensive needs assessment of the entire Oroville complex to understand what changes, if any, need to be made long term to bolster dam safety of the Oroville complex.

An evaluation of DWR’s dam safety program is already underway, and as a result of the findings of the Independent Forensic Team, or IFT, DWR will also assess its existing organizational structures.

DWR said it will continue to invest in resources to learn from other dam safety programs and plans to convene experts over the coming months to digest the findings and recommendations from this report to identify tangible actions in response.

In addition to identifying the combined causes that led to the incident, the latest IFT report also comments on decisions made as the spillway incident unfolded in February 2017.

“During the incident, our sole focus was protecting public safety,” said Joel Ledesma, Deputy Director of the State Water Project. “DWR supported this independent assessment – so we can learn from the past and continue to improve now and into the future.”

DWR agrees with the IFT’s conclusion that all dam owners need to reassess current procedures.

As the report notes, “the fact that this incident happened to the owner of the tallest dam in the United States, under regulation of a federal agency, with repeated evaluation by reputable outside consultants, in a state with the leading dam safety regulatory program, is a wake-up call for everyone involved in dam safety. Challenging current assumptions on what constitutes ‘best practice’ in our industry is overdue.”

Following the February incident, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission directed DWR to establish an Independent Forensic Team to determine the root cause of the spillway incident, as well as other contributing causes including operations, structural, geologic, and management.

To provide an independent review, DWR contacted the Association of State Dam Safety Officials and the United States Society of Dams, two nationally recognized dam safety organizations, to propose a team of experts capable of conducting a forensic evaluation of the Lake Oroville spillways incident. The six members of the IFT were identified on March 15.

Preliminary findings were released on May 5, 2017, listing 24 physical factors that potentially contributed to the main spillway damage and four physical factors that may have contributed to the emergency spillway damage.

On September 5, 2017, the IFT published an interim memorandum summarizing its findings of the Lake Oroville spillways failure and DWR released a statement regarding the memo. The latest report from the IFT incorporates these previous findings in addition to the contributing human factors.

The video above is the latest DWR video update from December, showing work on the spillway’s phase two.
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COBB, Calif. – Boggs Mountain Demonstration State Forest remains closed to all public use due to hazardous conditions as a result of the Valley fire.

Cal Fire will be conducting a large amount of pile burning on the forest throughout this winter.

As a result of the fire and drought-induced bark beetle mortality, 99 percent of the trees on the forest were destroyed.

Over the past year the Cal Fire management staff have aggressively been salvage logging to remove these standing dead trees in preparation for replanting.

As a result of this logging there are hundreds of residual slash piles that must be disposed of. Disposal of this material is not feasible by other means due to the volume of the material, number of piles, and time frame of which it must be disposed of.

“It is the goal of the department to restore the forest to a condition that is safe for public access. Allowing wood cutting, trail access, and camping is an important part of having this public land in Lake County,” said Cal Fire Sonoma Lake Napa Unit Chief Shana Jones.

A crew of firefighters will be assigned to conduct these pile burns throughout the winter beginning immediately on permissive burn days.

A large-scale smoke management plan has been completed in coordination with the Sacramento Air Resources Board and the Lake County Air Quality Management District. Department staff will follow the same rules and regulations that apply to the public.

Cal Fire thanks the public in advance for respecting and honoring the state’s decision to close the forest to public use; this allows the team to stay focused on the forest’s work plan in order to allow access as soon as is safe to do so.
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CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council will hold a special meeting to discuss a grant application and wildfire-related matters.

The council will meet beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 4, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.

On the agenda is a public hearing to consider accepting a resolution that approves the city’s hazardous mitigation grant program grant application for the creation of a local hazards mitigation plan.

As part of that item, the council will direct staff to file a notice of intent with the California Office of Emergency Services.

The council also will get an update on the continuation of the emergency declarations for the Sulphur fire.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
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Stellar cluster NGC 1333 is home to a large number of brown dwarfs. Astronomers will use Webb’s powerful infrared instruments to learn more about these dim cousins to the cluster’s bright newborn stars. Credits: NASA/CXC/JPL.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are. Astronomers are hopeful that the powerful infrared capability of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope will resolve a puzzle as fundamental as stargazing itself — what IS that dim light in the sky?

Brown dwarfs muddy a clear distinction between stars and planets, throwing established understanding of those bodies, and theories of their formation, into question.

Several research teams will use Webb to explore the mysterious nature of brown dwarfs, looking for insight into both star formation and exoplanet atmospheres, and the hazy territory in-between where the brown dwarf itself exists.

Previous work with Hubble, Spitzer, and ALMA have shown that brown dwarfs can be up to 70 times more massive than gas giants like Jupiter, yet they do not have enough mass for their cores to burn nuclear fuel and radiate starlight.

Though brown dwarfs were theorized in the 1960s and confirmed in 1995, there is not an accepted explanation of how they form: like a star, by the contraction of gas, or like a planet, by the accretion of material in a protoplanetary disk? Some have a companion relationship with a star, while others drift alone in space.

At the Université de Montréal, Étienne Artigau leads a team that will use Webb to study a specific brown dwarf, labeled SIMP0136.

It is a low-mass, young, isolated brown dwarf – one of the closest to our Sun – all of which make it fascinating for study, as it has many features of a planet without being too close to the blinding light of a star.

SIMP0136 was the object of a past scientific breakthrough by Artigau and his team, when they found evidence suggesting it has a cloudy atmosphere.

He and his colleagues will use Webb’s spectroscopic instruments to learn more about the chemical elements and compounds in those clouds.

“Very accurate spectroscopic measurements are challenging to obtain from the ground in the infrared due to variable absorption in our own atmosphere, hence the need for space-based infrared observation. Also, Webb allows us to probe features, such as water absorption, that are inaccessible from the ground at this level of precision,” Artigau explained.

These observations could lay groundwork for future exoplanet exploration with Webb, including which worlds could support life.

Webb’s infrared instruments will be capable of detecting the types of molecules in the atmospheres of exoplanets by seeing which elements are absorbing light as the planet passes in front of its star, a scientific technique known as transit spectroscopy.

“The brown dwarf SIMP0136 has the same temperature as various planets that will be observed in transit spectroscopy with Webb, and clouds are known to affect this type of measurement; our observations will help us better understand cloud decks in brown dwarfs and planet atmospheres in general,” Artigau said.

The search for low-mass, isolated brown dwarfs was one of the early science goals put forward for the Webb telescope in the 1990s, says astronomer Aleks Scholz of the University of St. Andrews.

Brown dwarfs have a lower mass than stars and do not “shine” but merely emit the dim afterglow of their birth, and so they are best seen in infrared light, which is why Webb will be such a valuable tool in this research.

Scholz, who also leads the Substellar Objects in Nearby Young Clusters (SONYC) project, will use Webb’s Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) to study NGC 1333 in the constellation of Perseus.

NGC 1333 is a stellar nursery that has also been found to harbor an unusually high number of brown dwarfs, some of them at the very low end of the mass range for such objects – in other words, not much heavier than Jupiter.

"In more than a decade of searching, our team has found it is very difficult to locate brown dwarfs that are less than five Jupiter-masses – the mass where star and planet formation overlap. That is a job for the Webb telescope,” Scholz said. “It has been a long wait for Webb, but we are very excited to get an opportunity to break new ground and potentially discover an entirely new type of planets, unbound, roaming the Galaxy like stars."

Both of the projects led by Scholz and Artigau are making use of Guaranteed Time Observations, or GTOs, observing time on the telescope that is granted to astronomers who have worked for years to prepare Webb’s scientific operations.

The James Webb Space Telescope, the scientific complement to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, will be the premier space observatory of the next decade. Webb is an international project led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).

For more information about the Webb telescope, visit www.nasa.gov/webb or www.webbtelescope.org .

Leah Ramsay is a member of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md.
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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters) and Assemblymember Jim Wood (D-Healdsburg) introduced AB 1772 on Thursday, giving wildfire victims an additional year to rebuild their homes and businesses after a catastrophic wildfire and collect the full amount of insurance dollars to which they are entitled.

Extending the time a policy holder has to recoup their losses after a devastating fire will prevent battles with insurance companies and bring families greater peace of mind.

In October 2017, California experienced the most devastating wildfire in state history. 44 Californian lives were claimed.

More than 14,700 homes and 728 businesses were damaged or destroyed totaling over 9 billion dollars worth of insurable damage.

This disaster struck while Lake and Calaveras counties were still in process of rebuilding from the Valley and Butte fires, respectively, of 2015, which destroyed more than 3,000 structures and 1,700 homes.

“Four of my counties – Lake, Napa, Solano and Sonoma – were on fire in October. For many, it wasn’t the first time,” said Aguiar-Curry. “It breaks my heart to think about the magnitude of loss families across California are experiencing due to fires. It will take them years to pick up the pieces. My hope is that AB 1772 will provide those families a level of comfort knowing they will have the time and money they need to rebuild their homes, business, and lives after such a devastating event.”

AB 1772 extends the amount of time a home or business owner has to rebuild an insured property from two to three years and receive the full replacement costs they are entitled to after a declared emergency.

Many constituents who had homes and businesses burn down during the Valley and Butte fires of 2015 are still not done rebuilding due to the magnitude of loss those communities experienced.

Such large regional rebuild efforts put strain on resources and contractors available to finish extensive amounts of work.

Rebuild timelines for the North Bay and Southern California fires of 2017 are expected to be just as, if not more, time consuming.

AB 1772 has already gained the support of Legislators from regions North and South impacted by the wildfires of 2017.

Coauthors from the Assembly include Wood, Monique Limón (D-Santa Barbara), and Marc Levine (D-Marin), and from the Senate Bill Dodd (D-Napa), Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg) and Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara).

“The recent California wildfires devastated so many people in our communities,” said Wood, a joint author of AB 1772. “They have lost homes and businesses that they worked years to build and we can’t forget the emotional trauma they are also experiencing. This bill, which is limited to declared emergencies, will provide insureds an additional year to rebuild. When you think about all that is involved in rebuilding close to 10,000 structures in Northern California alone – all within a few hundred miles of each other – this bill will give people the time to complete the planning and permitting process, find the best contractor for their home or business and take the pressure off our local governments to ensure that they can meet the extraordinary needs of their residents.”

“This bill takes an important step to help victims and communities rebuild and recover after future disasters,” said Sen. Dodd.

“Twenty-four months just isn’t enough time for residents to work with their insurance companies on full reimbursement of their lost home,” Sen. McGuire said. “The size and scope of wildland fire events have grown significantly over the last decade in California. This new reality means we have to rethink what were once reliable programs and develop new solutions. I’m grateful to join with Assemblywoman Aguiar-Curry on this important initiative that will help all Californians.”

“The recovery process after a fire can be overwhelming—this extension will relieve one more worry for a family who has lost their home or a business owner trying to rebuild,” said Assemblymember Limón, “I am proud to join Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry as a principal coauthor of this important legislation to extend the coverage period. As our communities recover from the devastating fires of last year, we will continue to bring down barriers to returning to a sense of normalcy.”

AB 1772 is expected to be heard in the Assembly Committee on Insurance in early spring.

Aguiar-Curry represents the Fourth Assembly District, which includes all of Lake and Napa counties, parts of Colusa, Solano and Sonoma counties, and all of Yolo County except West Sacramento.
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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Several state lawmakers – including Lake County’s state senator – have introduced legislation to prevent electric utilities from passing costs that result from negligent practices onto customers by raising rates.

State Sen. Jerry Hill, joined by Senators Ben Allen, Bill Dodd, Mike McGuire and Scott Wiener, and Assemblymembers Marc Levine and Jim Wood, introduced legislation SB 819 on Wednesday.

Senate Bill 819 was prompted by utilities’ ongoing efforts to recover costs resulting from long-past wildfires by seeking permission to increase rates, even if found at fault in the fires.

The much-criticized practice came under sharp scrutiny as one such effort, by a San Diego utility, came up for review by the California Public Utilities Commission as wildfires raged last fall in Northern California’s Wine Country.

While the cause of those fires is still being investigated, several legislators want to ensure that the electric utilities serving California cannot recover the costs that result from the utilities’ negligent practices by raising rates for customers.

“The practice is an outrage and it’s time to stop allowing utilities to push the burden of their negligence onto the backs of customers,” said Sen. Hill, D-San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. “Victims of devastating fires and other tragedies, and ratepayers in general, should not be forced to pay for the mistakes made by utilities.”

Sen. McGuire, D-North Coast/North Bay, whose district includes communities ravaged by the wildfires in October – including Lake County – said: “Thousands of North Bay residents have lost their homes and businesses and many escaped these devastating fires with nothing but the clothes on their backs and their family's safety. While there is an active fire investigation taking place, there is absolutely no way residents who are suffering from this massive tragedy should ever pay for a corporation's potential negligence. It's simply unconscionable and I'm grateful to join with Sen. Hill on this important piece of legislation.”

“California’s utilities must be held fully liable when their negligence causes damage in our communities,” said Sen. Wiener, D-San Francisco. “You don’t burn someone’s house down and then raise their rates to help pay for the damage you caused. I want to thank Senator Hill for leading this effort to protect California’s ratepayers.”

“Utility customers shouldn't be stuck paying the bill for a problem they did not cause. This legislation is a fair response that will protect the public and hold companies accountable for the damage they’ve caused,” said Sen. Allen, D-Santa Monica.

“The cause of the North Bay fires is still under investigation,” said Assemblymember Levine, D-Marin County. “Regardless, ratepayers should never be stuck with the bill if negligence is determined. That's why I am coauthoring legislation with Sen. Jerry Hill to prohibit utility companies from charging ratepayers for costs if a utility is found at fault for a fire. The public yearns for accountability and we must have it here.”

Before ratepayers bear any cost incurred by a utility, the California Public Utilities Commission is required to evaluate whether those costs are just and reasonable.

For example, if a wildfire occurs in a utility’s service territory, the utility will incur costs to repair and replace equipment damaged by the fire.

The CPUC has the authority to determine if the utility acted reasonably in responding to the fire – in preventing the fire from occurring, in mitigating the fire’s spread, and in recovery efforts during and after the fire – before allowing the utility to increase rates to pay for the damage.

The CPUC’s ability to determine reasonable behavior, and to allow or disallow cost recovery in rates based on that review, is a central tenet of the CPUC’s authority.

SB 819 provides the CPUC with full authority to apply a reasonableness review to electric utilities’ requests for cost recovery.

In addition, the bill clarifies that fines, penalties, or uninsured expenses resulting from negligent behavior are not recoverable in rates.

In response to SB 819’s introduction, on Pacific Gas and Electric Co. released a Wednesday written statement.

“While there has been no determination on the causes of the Northern California wildfires that took place in October, it is clear that California needs much broader reforms that recognize the mutual interests of customers, utilities, investors, insurers and others as we work together to address the impacts of climate change including more frequent and more damaging wildfires,” the PG&E statement said.

“California is one of the only states in the country where the courts have applied inverse condemnation liability to events caused by a privately owned utility’s equipment. This means that if a utility’s equipment is found to have been a substantial cause of the damage in the event like a wildfire – even if the utility has followed established inspection and safety rules – the utility may be liable for property damages and attorneys’ fees associated with that event,” the company said.

“Allowing essentially unlimited liability undermines the financial health of the state’s utilities, discourages investment in California and has the potential to materially impact the ability of utilities to access the capital markets to fund utility operations. All of these are bad for customers and bad for the state of California,” PG&E said in the statement.

The company concluded, “And, at a time when California is asking privately owned utilities to invest billions of dollars to meet the state’s greenhouse gas reduction goals, these risks pose real consequences for the state’s environment, economy and communities.”

Gas companies are already prevented from shifting the burden of fines and penalties onto customers as a result of legislation by then-Assemblymember Hill in response to the PG&E gas pipeline explosion that leveled a San Bruno neighborhood in 2010.

That legislation, Assembly Bill 56, was approved by the governor in 2011.

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