Assembly Bill 2700 (AB 2700), known as the Wildfire Victim Restitution Bill, has officially passed the California Legislature and is now on Governor Gavin Newsom's desk for his signature. The bill cleared the California State Senate unanimously with a 40-0 vote before the Assembly concurred in the final Senate amendments on August 31, 2026. Aims to resolve the remaining ~30% gap that Fire Victim Trust claimants still face and Ensures that all recommended financial mechanisms route funds directly to wildfire victims rather than generating attorney fee streams. If signed by the governor, the bill takes effect and shifts the issue to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). By January of 2028 This is the hard deadline for the CPUC to complete an official report calculating the exact unpaid claims for victims wildfires that occurred before July 12, 2019 (such as the 2018 Camp Fire).In that same report, the CPUC must outline specific restitution mechanisms, timelines, and benchmarks for utilities (like PG&E) to pay out the missing funds

Butte County residents will soon have a new option for electricity — Pioneer Community Energy. The city of Chico is moving closer towards starting service with Pioneer Community Energy, a non-profit community choice aggregation program. A CCA allows not-for-profit agencies, like Pioneer, to purchase electricity and use an existing utility company's infrastructure, like Pacific Gas & Electric, to distribute it. Assistant City Manager Eric Gustafson said right now, everything looks good to start service in October of 2027. Consumers could save 10% on their current bills 

Former City of Biggs Mayor Robert Bassett was sentenced on Wednesday to more than four years in prison for multiple sex crimes involving a foreign exchange student. The Butte County District Attorney's Office says in addition to the prison sentence, Bassett was ordered by Judge Deems to register as a sex offender for ten years after he was released.