Long before the Camp fire raced through Northern California, claiming at least 86 lives and all but erasing the Gold Rush town of Paradise, state law required the three big power monopolies to file detailed strategies to prevent wildfires.
Under Senate Bill 1028, San Diego Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric were supposed to prepare annual wildfire mitigation plans for reducing fire threats and identify who specifically would be responsible for implementing them.
The bill, signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown in September 2016, also called on the California Public Utilities Commission to review the filings every year, comment on the material and audit the companies to make sure the plans were being followed.
More than two years after the legislation was enacted, state regulators have yet to issue directives for the utilities to write the plans, let alone discuss or examine them for compliance — although SDG&E says its own fire plans comply with the law.
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