PG&E Corp., suspected of starting California’s deadliest wildfire, may soon get help from state lawmakers, but not the help it most wants, Bloomberg News reported. An assemblymember plans to introduce a bill in January that would give the state’s largest utility owner a way to pay off billions of dollars in potential liabilities it faces from the Camp Fire, the deadliest in state history. But lawmakers appear unlikely to give PG&E and the state’s other utilities the relief they have sought for a year: a change to rules that automatically hold the companies responsible for any fire damage tied to their equipment. PG&E shares have plunged almost 50 percent since the start of the Camp Fire, which killed at least 85 people and torched more than 13,600 homes. The stock has stabilized after news of Holden’s bill, first reported by Bloomberg, and comments by the state’s utility regulator that it doesn’t want the company to go into bankruptcy.
