SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) On September 9, 2015, a tree caught fire in the County of Amador, causing at least two deaths and extensive property damage in the Counties of Amador and
Calaveras. This fire came to be known as the 2015 Butte Fire.
(b) In early October of 2017, multiple fires ignited throughout the Counties of Napa, Sonoma, Lake, Butte, Mendocino, and Solano, causing at least 44 deaths and more than $14 billion dollars in property damage. These fires came to be known as the 37 Fire, Adobe Fire, Atlas Fire, Blue Fire, Cascade Fire, Cherokee Fire, Honey Fire, LaPorte Fire, Lobo Fire, Maacama/Youngs Fire,
McCourtney Fire, Norrbom Fire, Nuns Fire, Partrick Fire, Pocket Fire, Point Fire, Pressley Fire, Pythian/Oakmont Fire, Redwood/Potter Valley Fire, Sullivan Fire, Sulphur Fire, and the Tubbs Fire, or collectively as the 2017 North Bay Fires.
(c) On November 8, 2018, an electrical transmission line operated by Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) ignited a fire in the County of Butte, causing at least 85 deaths, and causing property damage estimated at over $16 billion dollars. This fire came to be known as the 2018 Camp Fire.
(d) On January 29, 2019, owing in large part to liability for damages caused by the fires in 2015, 2017, and 2018, PG&E Corporation and Pacific Gas and Electric Company jointly filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California pursuant to Chapter 11 (commencing with Section 1101) of Title 11 of the United States Code. The plan of reorganization pursuant to that filing was approved by the court on June 20, 2020, and became effective on July 1, 2020. As part of that plan, the Fire Victim Trust was formed.
(e) The Fire Victim Trust evaluates, administers, processes, and resolves eligible claims arising from the fires that occurred in northern California in 2015, 2017, and 2018.
(f) In a letter dated September 1, 2021, from the trustee of the Fire Victim Trust to the fire victims, the trustee noted that while the expected value of the settlement to resolve eligible claims arising from the fires was reportedly $13,500,000,000, the settlement was not
a “true lump sum but rather a combination of cash and PG&E stock.” One-half of the expected settlement amount was provided in cash while the other one-half was expected to be provided by the value of approximately 477 million shares of PG&E stock. The trustee’s letter further notes that “[o]n the day the Trust was established and became owners of approximately 477 million shares of PG&E stock, it was trading at $9 per share, for a value of $4.2 billion, approximately $2.5 billion less than promised.”
(g) Because of the fluctuation in the value of PG&E stock, the Fire
Victim Trust may not be funded at the expected value of the settlement.