SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a host of legislation on Wednesday related to wildfires, two bills of which were authored by District 2 Sen. Mike McGuire.
Senate Bills 560 and 670 both seek to improve communication between entities when power outages affect first responders. They were signed Wednesday by the governor along with about a dozen other new wildfire-related laws.
SB 560 will require utilities like Pacific Gas and Electric Company to deliberately notify law enforcement, fire and medical responders and telecommunications providers in advance of a voluntary power shutoff event, like the “Public Safety Power Shutoff” program PG&E most recently implemented last week, shutting down power to thousands of residents in Northern California.
Such shutoffs, PG&E has said, are intended to limit the risk of PG&E equipment from sparking wildfires during high fire risk weather.
“Currently, despite requirements to create notification procedures,” McGuire said Wednesday in a statement on Newsom’s signing of his bills, “there’s not a requirement that the actual notifications occur to first responders, health care facilities, and telecommunication services. Communities have unfortunately experienced the lack of communication and notification from PG&E, and making it a requirement is the next step in ensuring proper notification is received.”
Like SB 560, SB 670 is intended to improve communication during power outages. The bill will require telecommunications providers to inform the California Office of Emergency Services more quickly when service outages affect 9-1-1 emergency systems.
According to McGuire, providers have been slow in the past to share such information with the state.
“For example,” McGuire said, “during the Camp Fire, which began around 6:33 am on November 8, 2018, the CPUC received their notification of the outage from the FCC over 5 hours later at 12:01 pm after thousands of homes had been destroyed.”
McGuire also said the CPUC—the California Public Utilities Commission—wasn’t notified of service outages during the Tubbs Fire in Santa Rosa in 2017 until six hours after the blaze started, by which time “thousands of homes were destroyed.”
Prompt delivery of outage information, McGuire noted, “seems like it should already be happening—but it’s not.”
“SB 670 will provide emergency officials with the data and crucial information they need to keep our communities safe,” McGuire said.
On Wednesday, Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen welcomed the governor’s signing of these two bills.
“Continued improvements to communication is always good,” Rasmussen said.
For his part, though, Rasmussen feels PG&E has been a good communicator with the LPD.
“It’s been good,” he said of the utility’s information during potential outages. “We’ve been in regular communication with PG&E regarding the potential power shutoffs.”
Last week, when Lake County was among nine Northern California counties in a list of communities that might be affected by an anticipated shutoff, PG&E was texting, calling and emailing Rasmussen and his department “several times a day,” he said.
Both of McGuire’s bills sailed with unanimous approval through the voting process in Sacramento, and will take effect on Jan. 1, 2020.
