PG&E will begin cutting power at midnight Wednesday. Nearly 800,000 California customers will be aff

[phaZed]

I can't imagine how it could've been their fault to anywhere near that extent, and now they have $12 billion less to spend on maintenance.... Can't really blame PG&E for proactively cutting power to reduce their exposure.

That's what I thought when this thread came up, too. Turns out, no, those MF'ers are likely the problem... both PG&E and political leadership.. it's all corrupt, IMO, after doing a bit of reading.

Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown has called for additional infrastructure funding. Republican Assemblyman Vince Fong responded, "Our general fund budget has grown by $36 billion over the last six years and zero has gone to infrastructure."

Transportation infrastructure spending from the general fund fell from $83 million to zero between FY 2012 and 2017. However, general fund spending made up just one percent of all transportation infrastructure spending in that period. Federal funds made up 47 percent of transportation infrastructure spending, and special funds and bond funds made up 53 percent. Taking these sources into account, total funding for transportation infrastructure decreased 24 percent during this period.

So, for all of the local taxes and whatnot prior, in 2017 Cali enacted a state "gas tax", among others to again fill the "General fund" to tackle "infrastructure" but it really doesn't answer the question of why for 4-5 years 'all of the money' disappeared except some malarkey about needing 2 Billion dollars to improve State Houses and Administration buildings.


Face it, when Governmental Administration is $3.6 Billion and Transportation/Infrastructure is dead-last at 2.8 Billion, well, problems.

There are other "gotcha's" and factors that play into this (Federal spending cuts as an example), but the evidence and overall picture seems pretty damning for California, PG&E and it's politics/decisions.

The open secret about California taxes
Fact check: California's state budget and transportation infrastructure spending

Cloverdale Mayor Melanie Bagby told Yahoo Finance’s On the Move she doesn’t blame PG&E. “I think that after the initial wave and shock of anger are over, people are really going to need to look at who the regulators were who allowed PG&E to make a lot of bad decisions by not upgrading their infrastructure,” said Bagby, adding that the California Public Utilities Commission should be held accountable because it allowed PG&E to fall behind on necessary power line maintenance.

“They know that the decisions that were made in the PG&E boardroom to pay out dividends to their investors, instead of investing in their infrastructure, that’s where the blame really lies and of course it lies with the regulators,” Bagby said.

 

[callthatgirl]

California is the only state I will not move to and I move alot!

 

[NETWizz]

California is the only state I will not move to and I move alot!

I would avoid NY, too... high taxes. If you DO move, avoid the big cities unless you must. Nothing like paying income tax to a city (i.e. 9.5% to Los Angeles). All I can say is **** that... might be a good place to work though with a great customer base.