California already has some of the highest electricity rates in the country. Now state officials want to let the utilities behind those bills escape accountability when their equipment starts deadly wildfires.

An official investigation confirmed this week that a Southern California Edison transmission tower caused the Eaton Fire in January 2025. That fire killed at least 19 people, destroyed more than 9,000 homes and buildings in Altadena, and took nearly a month to contain.

Governor Gavin Newsom is reportedly pushing the California Legislature to limit what wildfire victims can recover from utilities, capping pain-and-suffering damages, reducing insurer recoveries, and restricting attorney fees.

Here is the problem: California's major utilities are government-protected monopolies.

When courts hold them liable, they pass costs to customers through rate increases.

When the state limits their liability, victims absorb the losses through capped settlements.

Californians pay either way.

This is not a new pattern. PG&E's faulty equipment destroyed Paradise in 2018. Now the Eaton Fire, and the same fight is starting again.

Sign this petition to tell the California Legislature: do not limit wildfire victims' right to hold negligent utilities accountable.