By James Gallagher

Guest columnist / U.S. Congressman

In his final legislative session as governor of California, Gavin Newsom made a last ditch effort to fix California’s broken wildfire and utility liability system.

Yes, in the last days Mr. Democracy wanted to push through a backroom negotiated deal with as little sunlight and little public review as possible –a trailer bill with less than 72 hours’ notice.

Why now? Because after eight years as governor, California’s liability system, its wildfire risk, its electricity rates are a complete disaster. Insurance is increasingly unaffordable. People are losing their policies and coverage, and investors are questioning the risk of doing business in our state.

Gov. Newsom says California needs full structural reform. But his policy was far from that. It was simply shifting the liability from one hand to the other, from the utilities to the insurance companies. But either way, we would pay in higher rates and higher insurance premiums!

The truth is that the governor had the power to push real reform but instead he created the great beast whose appetite for taxpayer and ratepayer money knows no bounds. Governor Newsom had the votes, he had the power and he had eight years. Yet with just months remaining in office, he suddenly discovered that the system is broken, and that he has the answer to save us all! And naturally, he’s found plenty of people to blame – insurance companies, hedge funds, trial lawyers – and certainly those folks have done some things that are not so good – but apparently, everyone is responsible for California’s problems, except the people who’ve actually been running the state. And ironically, the last time Newsome did utility reform, all those folks, the hedge funds, the insurance companies, the trial lawyers, they all got paid. The wildfire victims, well, they got devalued stock and broken promises.

Then to make matters worse, my burned-out constituents faced skyrocketing electricity rates from the very same utility which burned down their town. Rate increase after rate increase was approved by Governor Newsome’s appointees. And that utility profited billions, while the victims paid the price.

The governor said two weeks ago that we need to deal with reality; I couldn’t agree more. Let’s deal with the reality. The energy policy of California is a total disaster! We pay the highest rates in the nation, and yet we still have old infrastructure that is sparking wildfires. Insurance costs are soaring. People are losing their insurance. And they would soar even more under the governor’s last-minute proposal. Good thing the Legislature actually finally told him no.

We have to deal directly with the problem.

We should be putting more money into modernizing our energy infrastructure, diversifying our energy portfolio.

Instead of mandating Green New Deal policies, let’s get away from the big utility model.

Let’s bring our power more local, to make it more affordable.

Let’s increase competition.

Let’s invest in clean hydro power, solar with storage, geothermal and nuclear power.

And we need to remove the buildup of dead and dying trees, brush, and undergrowth that have made our public lands a giant tinderbox waiting for a spark. Instead, Gavin Newsom has consistently cut that funding, each and every budget year since 2021.

California has now become too expensive for families, too difficult to do business in, and increasingly too risky for investors. Now Wall Street doesn’t want to invest in our utilities, and stock prices are going down. Can you blame them? Would you invest in this type of system? It’s a bad business model created by the failed policies of Gavin Newsom and Democratic politicians who do his bidding. That’s the truth. When California becomes a riskier place to invest, capital becomes more expensive. And who ultimately pays the price? California families, higher utility bills, higher insurance premiums, higher housing costs.

Governor Newsom is trying to patch the roof of a burning building as he’s walking out the door. He wants to help his friends. He wants to make sure he doesn’t have another utility bankruptcy on his record. But he doesn’t actually want to solve the fundamental problem because that would require a look in the mirror. The governor likes to talk about leaders who meet the moment. Well, Gov. Newsom, it’s time for you to meet your moment. This is the California you will leave behind – unaffordable for families, hostile to businesses and increasingly too risky for investors.

Gov. Newsom, stop pointing fingers. After eight years, California’s problems aren’t somebody else’s legacy – they’re yours.

— Rep. James Gallagher is a Republican who represents California’s 1st Congressional District. He previously served in the California State Assembly from 2014 to 2026, representing the 3rd district located in the northern Sacramento Valley.