Exclusive: SacBee investigation spurs utilities accountability bill in California
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SACBEE INVESTIGATION SPURS UTILITY ACCOUNTABILITY EFFORT
Via Kate Wolffe ...
The high gas and electricity rates of PG&E, SoCal Gas and Southern California Edison are not making them any friends in the California Legislature.
News reports and watchdog findings showing that the utilities have seemingly spent millions of dollars on political lobbying and promotional advertising and passed the costs to their customers haven’t helped.
Those findings, including a 2023 investigation by The Sacramento Bee, are the driving force behind Senate Bill 24, a new bill introduced by state Sen. Jerry McNerney, D-Stockton.
The bill would:
tighten up and add teeth to an existing state law that prohibits utility companies from using ratepayer money for campaigning or advertising. Utilities could be fined up to $10,000 per day per violation.
explicitly prohibit utility companies from using customer money to campaign against local jurisdictions creating their own municipal utilities.
prohibit utilities from turning off power on someone during poor air quality days.
“It’s not major, but it’s a shot across the bow,” McNerney said in an exclusive interview with The Bee. He intends it to be a message to utilities: “Listen, you guys need to start paying attention to how you’re using ratepayer money.”
In 2023, The Bee found SoCalGas had spent at least $36 million for political lobbying since 2019, and assigned the cost to customers rather than shareholders.
The investigation prompted Senate Bill 938 from then-state Sen. Dave Min, D-Irvine, in 2023. Min’s bill failed when not enough senators voted to pass it out the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee. Its opposition included coalitions of utility employees.
McNerney’s new iteration says the ban on utilizing ratepayer funds would not apply to investor-owned utility workers represented by labor organizations.
In an emailed statement, PG&E spokesperson Lynsey Paulo said the law is already on the books, and similar legislation to SB 938 “would not lead to any notable or immediate bill reductions for customers.” Paulo also pointed out PG&E bills are lower than they were a year ago.
PARENTS’ RIGHTS SCHOOL BOARD PRESIDENT RUNNING FOR STATE SUPERINTENDENT
Sonja Shaw, a Southern California school board member who helped pass the state’s first parental notification policy in 2023 after a showdown with state Superintendent Tony Thurmond, is now running to replace him.
Shaw is the current board president at Chino Valley Unified School District in San Bernardino County and a figurehead of the California parents’ rights movement. She rose to prominence in conservative political circles when she led her district in passing what critics called a “forced outing” policy, which requires school staff to inform a student’s parents if they are transgender.
Thurmond was one of hundreds of attendees at the July 2023 board meeting. He spoke against the policy before Shaw had him removed amid the crowd chanting, “Kick him out!”
At a parents’ rights rally outside the Capitol a month later, Shaw called Thurmond part of the “political cartel.”
“God is using California to guide the way,” she said, against the “political cartel of (Gov.) Newsom, (Attorney General) Bonta and Thurmond.”
Despite the legal challenges the district has faced since the policy was passed, Shaw set the stage for other districts, such as the Rocklin Unified School District in Placer County, to pass similar measures.
Shaw realizes she’s jumping into a race as something of a political outsider, but that the parents’ movement has grown since she got her seat on the Chino Valley school board.
“When I first ran five years ago, I had just learned what a school board was,” Shaw told The Bee. “But I realized quickly that parents didn’t have a voice at the table. When parents are involved in a child’s education, the best outcomes show.”
Shaw wants California students “educated, not indoctrinated,” and is prepared for a fight with teachers’ unions who oppose parent notification policies.
“This will be an uphill battle with the unions and money involved,” she said. “But as long as the elections are fair, and we have parents on our side ... I will be the parents’ voice, and I will bring back common sense.”
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“The world found out shortly before 2 p.m. eastern time on March 15 that the United States was bombing Houthi targets across Yemen. I, however, knew two hours before the first bombs exploded that the attack might be coming. The reason I knew this is that Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, had texted me the war plan at 11:44 a.m.”
- Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans
Best of The Bee:
City Council may fast-track safety projects after dozens of deaths on Sacramento streets, via Ariane Lange
A new scoreboard and more — what to know about A’s upgrades at Sutter Health Park, via Chris Biderman
Why Trump has Sacramento State, UC Davis students and faculty afraid for free speech, via Jennah Pendleton
20 Sacramento-area organizations receive funds for hate-prevention efforts, via Lia Russell
This story was originally published March 25, 2025 at 4:55 AM.
