PG&E Corp. is lobbying for legislation that would allow the bankrupt California utility giant to securitize some of its profits to pay for past wildfire liabilities, Bloomberg News reported. PG&E was pressing California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) and state lawmakers over the weekend to add the securitization to a sweeping bill introduced last week that would help utilities deal with the mounting damages from wildfires that their power lines keep igniting. The financing may prove crucial to PG&E’s exit from bankruptcy. As part of a $31 billion restructuring plan, the company is proposing a $14 billion fund to pay out victims of a series of deadly blazes that its power lines have sparked over the past two years. The utility is lobbying just as the Newsom administration is pressing lawmakers to pass the bill by a July 12 deadline — before the rest of California’s utilities possibly see their credit downgraded to junk.
