A bill that would block utilities from passing on the costs of wildfire litigation to ratepayers has passed the Oregon Senate by a wide margin and is headed to the House.
SB 926 was approved April 23 in a 22-6 vote with bipartisan support and received its first reading in the House April 24.
The bill would prevent electric utilities from charging ratepayers for settlements, court judgments and civil penalties for wildfires caused through a utility’s negligence.
The bill was expanded significantly while before the Senate Committee on Judiciary to include litigation costs and rebuilding costs among the expenses that could not be recovered from ratepayers.
Other amendments included a ban on utilities paying shareholder dividends while a utility has unpaid legal judgments for wildfires. And court judgments from utility-caused wildfires would no longer be subject to insurance offsets, whereby an award is reduced by the amount a plaintiff received for the same claim from an insurer.
Among those voting against the bill was Sen. Mike McLane (R-Powell Butte), who also voted against the bill while it was in committee. McLane said at the time the numerous amendments should first be vetted by a workgroup and that the amended bill too little resemblance to the original.
Just as support was bipartisan, so was opposition with three Republicans and three Democrats voting against.
Critics such as Portland General Electric said the bill failed to distinguish between allegations of negligence and proof of negligence, or to consider that settlements do not require a finding or admission of fault.
