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#  When the Last-Minute Power Play Failed: Sacramento Finally Ran Out of Time

September 07 2026

Written by Yonthan Mendal.

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MY THOUGHTS - Gavin Newsom came to the final days of his final regular legislative session with one more major problem he wanted California lawmakers to solve. They didn't.

The collapse of Senate Bill 492, the wildfire-liability package that never received a final Assembly vote, was about more than one governor losing one legislative battle. It exposed a recurring weakness in Sacramento: complicated problems can remain unresolved for years, only to become emergencies when the legislative clock is about to expire.

Wildfire liability is too consequential for that kind of governing. California must compensate communities devastated by fires, keep utilities financially capable of hardening the electrical grid, protect ratepayers from escalating costs, and maintain a functioning insurance market.

Those interests inevitably collide. They cannot responsibly be reconciled in the final hours of a legislative session simply because the calendar demands an answer.

## The Problem Wasn't New. The Urgency Was.

Newsom's concern was legitimate. California's investor-owned utilities face enormous potential liabilities when their equipment causes catastrophic wildfires. His administration argued that the existing system could threaten utilities' financial stability and ultimately increase costs for Californians.

But Newsom's original proposal also sought major changes affecting who could recover money after catastrophic fires, including insurers, local governments and victims.

Lawmakers pushed back. So did wildfire survivors.

By the time a compromise emerged, several of Newsom's most consequential proposals had disappeared. Insurance companies retained their ability to seek reimbursement from utilities, and compensation for individual wildfire survivors was not limited.

Then came the remarkable conclusion: the Assembly didn't vote on it.

Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas said the package still failed to provide the relief, accountability and meaningful reform Californians deserved. Newsom wasn't satisfied either, saying the measure failed to solve the underlying structural problem.

After weeks of intense negotiations, both sides effectively acknowledged that the final product wasn't good enough.

The problem wasn't that lawmakers needed another frantic night of negotiation. The problem was that Sacramento was trying to settle a years-long problem against a clock.

## Legislation Shouldn't Be a Countdown

Newsom has repeatedly demonstrated that deadlines can be powerful political tools. Bring the parties together. Negotiate intensely. Produce a compromise. Pressure lawmakers to act before time expires.

Sometimes that works.

But there is a difference between using a deadline to finish negotiations and using a deadline to manufacture urgency that should have existed months earlier.

Assemblymember Chris Rogers highlighted the problem during the final negotiations, complaining that lawmakers were confronting legislation they had barely had time to examine before it was effectively too late to substantially change it.

That criticism goes beyond Newsom. It goes to the Legislature itself.

Lawmakers are not supposed to be spectators waiting outside a negotiating room until someone hands them final language. They are supposed to legislate.

Who ultimately pays when utility equipment starts a catastrophic wildfire? How much financial exposure can utilities withstand without threatening grid investment? How much should ratepayers absorb? How should survivors be protected? What role should insurers play?

There are no easy answers.

That is precisely why those questions deserve months of scrutiny rather than days of pressure.

## Wall Street Doesn't Get the Final Vote

The financial warning signs were significant. California's major investor-owned utilities suffered steep stock declines as negotiations unfolded. Utility executives warned legislative leaders that the companies had collectively lost roughly $20 billion in market value and that deteriorating investor confidence could eventually affect borrowing costs, investment and electricity rates.

Those concerns shouldn't be dismissed. Utilities require enormous amounts of capital to maintain infrastructure, modernize the grid and reduce wildfire risks.

But Sacramento cannot write wildfire policy according to a stock ticker.

The Legislature's obligation is broader. It must consider utility stability, ratepayers, wildfire survivors, insurers, local governments and the reliability of California's electrical system.

A falling stock price can be evidence of a problem. It cannot be the answer to one.

## This Was Bigger Than a Political Loss

It would be easy to interpret SB 492 entirely through the politics of a departing governor. Newsom himself acknowledged that his time in office is running out.

But reducing the episode to lame-duck politics misses the larger lesson.

Governors should push legislatures. Legislatures should push back. That tension is part of representative government.

The failure comes when the process becomes so compressed that lawmakers must choose between accepting an imperfect package and allowing an important issue to remain unresolved.

Assembly leaders chose the latter. Now they own part of what comes next.

They have pledged additional hearings. They should use them.

Bring wildfire survivors, utilities, insurers, consumer advocates, local governments, financial experts and ratepayer representatives into the room. Put the numbers on the table. Make the tradeoffs public.

Give legislators enough time to understand what they are voting on before someone starts counting down the hours until adjournment.

Newsom said California cannot settle for half measures. But comprehensive solutions require something Sacramento's final-days political machinery could not produce:

Time.

California's wildfire-liability crisis did not suddenly appear in August. It has been building for years.

The state did not run out of problems to solve.

It ran out of legislative time to solve them.

And when billions of dollars, wildfire survivors and the reliability of California's electrical grid are at stake, running out the clock is not a governing strategy.

***(Yonthan Mendal** writes on Jewish community issues, antisemitism, Israel, and public policy. His articles focus on civic engagement, education, and issues affecting Jewish communities.)*

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