AB 777: Food assistance: disasters: utilities.

Official summary

Legislative Counsel’s Digest (official, as of the latest version). Written by nonpartisan legislative staff; reproduced verbatim.

Existing federal law provides for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), known in California as CalFresh, under which supplemental nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county. Existing federal law, through the federal Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (D-SNAP), provides for short-term food assistance benefits to families suffering in the wake of a major disaster. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services and the county human services agency, if the President of the United States issues a major disaster declaration for individual assistance, to request to operate D-SNAP for the regions affected by the major disaster. Existing uncodified law, in the event of a declaration by the Governor or the President of the United States of a major disaster, continuously appropriates to the department from the General Fund an amount necessary to cover specified costs relating to the administration of disaster food assistance services, but not to exceed $300,000 per disaster declaration.

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities are under the direction of their governing boards. Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.

This bill would authorize the commission and the governing boards of local publicly owned electric utilities to establish any memoranda of understanding or other agreements necessary to direct electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities to timely provide data to the department to maximize food assistance, as provided. The bill would require electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities to make a reasonable effort to provide aggregated customer outage data, for outages of 4 hours or longer, within 7 calendar days of a request from the department, as specified. The bill would require the department to maximize the amount of assistance requested and received through D-SNAP and all other federally funded nutrition assistance, including utilizing that provided utility data, in order to timely seek automated mass replacement of specified federally funded nutrition assistance programs. The bill would require the department, on or before December 31, 2026, to submit a report to the Legislature related to food assistance, as specified.

This bill would require electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities to have a point of contact for the department as necessary to provide the requested data. The bill would require the commission to provide technical assistance to the department, including technical assistance to support the above-described report. Because a violation of a commission action implementing the bill’s requirements would be a crime, and by imposing additional duties on local publicly owned electric utilities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for specified reasons.

Sponsors

Sponsors by party (alphabetical): Democratic 2

“Support” is shown only as formal sponsorship recorded by the legislature. Roll-call votes are available on the official bill page.

Recent official actions

1. October 13, 2025Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 709, Statutes of 2025.
2. October 13, 2025Approved by the Governor.
3. September 23, 2025Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
4. September 11, 2025Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 80. Noes 0. Page 3334.).
5. September 10, 2025In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
6. September 10, 2025Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 2813.).
7. September 8, 2025Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
8. September 5, 2025Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading.
9. August 29, 2025Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
10. August 29, 2025From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 29).
11. August 25, 2025In committee: Referred to suspense file.
12. August 13, 2025In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.