Jones Day has registered to lobby in California for two dozen investment funds that are eager to keep Pacific Gas & Electric's stock prices afloat as the utility faces bankruptcy proceedings and billions of dollars in wildfire claims.

The disclosure forms Jones Day filed in Sacramento on Aug. 16 show the 24 funds, some of which scooped up millions of shares of slumping PG&E stock just before and after it declared bankruptcy in January, retained the firm between April 8 and Aug. 12.

Bruce Bennett, chair of the firm's business restructuring and reorganization practice, of counsel James Johnston and partner Joshua Mester all registered to lobby with the state on April 8.

Prior to the registration, Jones Day was not actively lobbying state officials in California. On the federal level, the firm had gone more than a decade without any reported federal lobbying before signing up to advocate for the Chinese telecom Huawei Technologies Co. in April.

Jones Day was paid just under $24,000 to lobby in California for the investment funds in the second quarter, according to the filings. Records also show that Jones Day subcontracted lobbying work for about half of the funds to another Sacramento-based lobbying shop, California Strategies & Advocacy.

A Jones Day spokesman did not return a message seeking more information about the lobbying work.

The investment funds, which include Abrams Capital Management, Anchorage Capital Group and Redwood Capital Management, represent some of the groups with a financial stake in how PG&E emerges from bankruptcy protection and pays claims to wildfire victims. Utility worker labor unions, hedge funds, company executives and plaintiffs lawyers have all been actively pressing their interests in bankruptcy court and the Legislature.

PG&E CEO Bill Johnson held meetings at the state Capitol on Wednesday trying to sell a plan that would use $20 billion in state-issued bonds, paid back by utility shareholders, to cover the utility's wildfire liability, according to the Sacramento Bee. The proposal would have to be approved by lawmakers, who recess for the year on Sept. 13, and Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The plan was attacked by a group led by investment funds—separate from those represented by Jones Day—that hold $10 billion in unsecured PG&E debt. The group, calling itself the Coalition to Stop the PG&E Bailout, accused Johnson of trying to advance a scheme that would inflate the price of his stock options.

Johnson's plan was also criticized by Frank Pitre of Cotchett Pitre & McCarthy, who represents wildfire victims. "I haven't seen anything mandating that that money goes to victims," Pitre said. "The victims continue to get kicked to the curb."