Moorlach: Brown VETOED Bill to Better Fight Forest Fires

Have you heard Jerry Brown apologize for the fires that raged over the past several days in Ventura and Butte counties?  Instead he is upset that President Trump is claiming that a significant part of the problem is the California forest management—and the media mocks Trump.  Yet, the Fake News media refuses to note that Brown vetoed SB 1463, a bill to help with the management of the forests and to contain fires.  He took direct action NOT to stop future fires, or at least the intensity of the fires.

State Senator John Moorlach notes this, “Regretfully, Governor Brown vetoed SB 1463 (2016) with the following message: “I am returning Senate Bill 1463 without my signature. This bill requires the Public Utilities Commission to prioritize areas that have increased fire hazard associate with overhead utility facilities. Since May of last year, the Commission and CalFire have been doing just that through the existing proceeding on fire-threat maps and fire-safety regulations. This deliberative process should continue and the issues this bill seeks to address should be raised in that forum.”

Well, last year The Wall Street Journal rightfully asked, after watching the Napa and Sonoma fires, “where are the fire maps?” Some deliberative process. What a sad joke. No maps. More greenhouse gases. More innocent lives lost. All because a Governor who despises managing a bureaucracy, relied on that same bureaucracy and received what? Nothing. And how did he or the Legislature address these concerns through “that forum”? And he has the gall to blame climate change and the utilities? Now we have the Campfire.”

Explains it all.  Jerry Brown is not an adult—he refuses to take responsibility for his actions—and inactions.

Thomas Fire

MOORLACH UPDATE — Fire Prevention Not Embraced — November 13, 2018

John Moorlach, Moorlach blog,  11/13/18

I thought the adventure with my bill to address electric line-caused conflagrations in wildfire zones with SB 1463 (2016) had run its course. I even did a final recap recently with MOORLACH UPDATE — SB 1463 Epilogue — October 4, 2018.

But, with the Santa Ana Wind season upon us again, we are seeing tragic fires in Southern and Northern California. There is speculation that the fire that wiped out the city of Paradise may have been started by wind-blown and sparking electrical lines, the very concern that SB 1463 was trying to address.

Regretfully, Governor Brown vetoed SB 1463 (2016) with the following message: “I am returning Senate Bill 1463 without my signature. This bill requires the Public Utilities Commission to prioritize areas that have increased fire hazard associate with overhead utility facilities. Since May of last year, the Commission and CalFire have been doing just that through the existing proceeding on fire-threat maps and fire-safety regulations. This deliberative process should continue and the issues this bill seeks to address should be raised in that forum.”

Well, last year The Wall Street Journal rightfully asked, after watching the Napa and Sonoma fires, “where are the fire maps?” Some deliberative process. What a sad joke. No maps. More greenhouse gases. More innocent lives lost. All because a Governor who despises managing a bureaucracy, relied on that same bureaucracy and received what? Nothing. And how did he or the Legislature address these concerns through “that forum”? And he has the gall to blame climate change and the utilities? Now we have the Campfire.

For a more recent account of this sad event, Katy Grimes provides a thorough lashing at https://www.reaganbabe.com/california/ca-gov-jerry-brown-vetoed-2016-wildfire-management-bill-while-ca-burned/.

Not to be discouraged, we introduced a new version of SB 1436 this year, using Cap and Trade revenues to harden electrical assets, but it was voted down by the Senate Environmental Quality Committee. However, the concept resurfaced in SB 901 (see MOORLACH CAMPAIGN UPDATE — Measure P — October 22, 2018). Your welcome, Governor Brown, at least my office brought a reasonable solution to the table to address transmission hardening and climate change.

So, watching the fires on television news reports has been gut wrenching. But, some still noticed this bill may have been a solution. The first piece below, from my appearance yesterday on KXL 101 and The Lars Larson Show, provides the set up and the link provides the audio of the interview.

It has generated more calls. I am scheduled to be on The Dennis Prager Show tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m. (PST) to discuss the SB 1463 (2016 and 2018).
With the death toll over the last two years reaching over 100 people and the amount of greenhouse gases being produced in California as a result of the fires, you just want to scream. How could a Governor who has made global warming his top priority, even his personal religion, not sign a bill that attempts to harden electric lines? Especially when Gov. Brown wants to transmit even more electricity, including dispersing renewable energy produced in California’s solar and windmill farms, to charge “zero emission vehicles” and run a high speed rail?

The second piece below is from Comstock’s and addresses another major concern of mine, dealing with mental illness (see MOORLACH UPDATE — SB 1004 and CIRM — September 10, 2018).

About Stephen Frank

Stephen Frank is the publisher and editor of California Political News and Views. He speaks all over California and appears as a guest on several radio shows each week. He has also served as a guest host on radio talk shows. He is a fulltime political consultant.

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