Lawmakers seek to ban some utility shutoffs during extreme heat
While the Northwest braces for more cold weather, lawmakers in Olympia are busy thinking about how hot it will get this summer. On Thursday, the House Committee on Environment & Energy takes up a bill that supporters say could be a matter of life and death during extreme heat.
In Washington, it's illegal for utilities to shut off power because of 'non-payment' during extremely cold weather. Attorney General Bob Ferguson is pushing House Bill 1329, which would take that same concept and apply it to summer heat waves.
Ferguson’s office highlights data from the National Weather Service which shows the number of days each year where temperatures reached at least 90 degrees in Yakima increased from an average of about 30 in the 1980’s, to more than 50 in the last decade. In the same period, the number of days over 95 degrees more than doubled.
“It’s a direct cause of what we’re seeing in Washington state,” said one of the bill’s sponsors, Rep. Sharlett Mena, D – Tacoma.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/lawmakers-seek-to-ban-some-utility-shutoffs-during-extreme-heat/ar-AA17izMD