California wildfire liability bill dies in Assembly, California without a vote

ASSEMBLY, California — California lawmakers killed a scaled-back wildfire liability bill Monday, allowing the measure to die in the Assembly without a vote as the legislative session came to a close.

The development comes just days after lawmakers reached a compromise on the legislation, which was designed in part to speed payments to wildfire survivors while addressing some of the financial risks facing California’s investor-owned utilities.

The latest proposal, Senate Bill 492, never received a final Assembly vote before the legislative deadline.

Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo said the abbreviated timeline made it difficult to reach a meaningful agreement on such a complex issue.