Tell your Assemblymember: Repeal the Utility Tax in AB 205!
Call ONE of the Assemblymembers. Note: only one of these Assemblymembers represents you. Find out which one here.
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Call Script
My name is __________. I am a constituent, and my zip code is _______. I am a member of Indivisible SF.
I am calling in strong opposition to the “Utility Tax” provision embedded into Budget Trailer Bill AB 205 (2022). We object to the un-democratic and opaque way in which the Utility Tax was enacted, passed in three days without any public hearings or discussion. The legislature needs to immediately repeal Public Utilities Code Section 739.9, through a current Budget Trailer or other bill.
Background
Our big utility companies and the Governor rammed through a state bill that will force everyone, especially lower middle class folks, to pay an exorbitant baseline fee for their hook-ups. This is an example of utility companies trying to extract ever more money from the middle class, instead of cooperating with climate-friendly and budget-friendly solutions like home solar panels. We at ISF, as well as many other local groups, are participating in a crash effort to get the California legislature to repeal it before it goes into effect. Feel free to peruse the effort’s letter, with 150 other groups, as well as the fact sheet.
The Utility Tax is Section 739.9 of Budget Trailer Bill AB 205 (2022). It requires the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to add a fixed charge to electricity bills based on household income. Because of this provision, the utilities and other organizations (NRDC, TURN, and Public Advocate) have proposed the highest fixed charges in the country, between $400 to $1,500 per year- three to twelve times the national average for such a fixed charge. These proposals would function as a Utility Tax that would apply to all residential customers of PG&E, SCE, SDG&E, and CCAs.
For more information, see the Utility Tax Fact sheet.