News release
Sen. Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, has announced he is co-authoring the Cost of Living Reduction Act, Senate Bill 1326, which would repeal a 2022 law authorizing an income-based charge on electrical bills.
“Too many Californians struggle to afford their electricity bills at a time when energy is already unreliable, and yet the Legislature thought it was a good idea to rip people off more?” Wilk said in a news release. “You should be charged for how much energy you actually use; it should not be based on how much money you make. This bill stops a bad policy before it starts, and I am proud to be a coauthor.”
SB 1326, introduced by Sen. Brian Jones, R-San Diego, would repeal the problematic provisions of Assembly Bill 205 (2022), which enables the California Public Utilities Commission to approve new fixed charges for investor owned utilities customers based on income.
AB 205 was never heard, vetted, or voted on in any policy committee and was rammed through the Legislature in a budget trailer bill at the last minute, Wilk’s release said.
Despite the supermajority pushing the bill forward, many Democrats who initially supported AB 205 are reversing course and now calling to stop the income-based charge, the release said.
Given that AB 205 mandates the implementation of the income-based fixed charge by July 1, 2024, SB 1326 has an urgency clause to take effect immediately upon being signed into law.
