Natural disasters

Bankrupt investor-owned utility PG&E was a factor in many of the bills approved to deal with the state's wildfire risk.

Some of the solutions contemplated to bring the investor-owned utility out of bankruptcy involve tapping the municipal bond market.

All three entities have liquidity available to pay claims before turning to bonds to finance losses, said Moody's Investors Service.

CDBG mitigation is a new program to support communities for events that are likely to occur rather than recovery from events that have already occurred. Some disaster recovery funds have been used in the past for mitigation.

The bonds sold for Paradise, the town nearly leveled by a 2018 fire, remain at speculative grade.

A new state law established the wildfire fund to provide a financial buffer for claims against utilities.

The new letter increases the pressure for federal oversight as the island goes through the long process of rebuilding from the damage caused by Hurricane Maria and reorganizing its debt.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill to establish the wildfire fund, to be seeded with new bonds backed by an old utility ratepayer surcharge.

Lawmakers are plowing through a pile of trailer bills, including two tax increases, that must pass to avoid blowing a hole in their $214.8 billion budget.

The commonwealth overall has been allocated $42.3 billion in disaster aid since Hurricanes Maria and Irma struck the island, not counting the new funding approved by Congress.