SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order Monday to assist communities recovering from wildfires that date back to 2017.
The executive order extends the state's ban on price gouging in the following counties: Butte, Napa, Sonoma, Los Angeles and Ventura.
The order says those counties have expressed the need for ongoing price-gouging protections in order to fully recover from wildfires.
Newsom issued the executive order less than a week after a federal bankruptcy judge approved two Pacific Gas &Electric (PG&E) settlements that almost totaled up to $25 billion to help pay homeowners, businesses and insurers.
PG&E filed for bankruptcy in January because it was facing at least $30 billion in potential damages from lawsuits after the utility's equipment started massive wildfires in 2017 and 2018 that killed more than 100 people.
PG&E's equipment started the Camp Fire in 2018, which destroyed the entire town of Paradise.
The investor-owned utility still needs to convince Newsom that its plan to come out of bankruptcy is viable before it could receive wildfire fund money.
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In California, fires are burning more intensely than ever before. Megafires destroy entire neighborhoods. Some of the deadliest fires have been caused by our own electric grid, but all fires are burning worse because of climate change and an unhealthy forest landscape.