This California bill would let victims, insurance companies sue Big Oil for disaster damages

A bill that would allow victims and insurance companies to seek damages in court from fossil fuel companies after weather disasters was introduced Monday in the state legislature by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, in an effort to address California's home insurance crisis.

Supporters of Senate Bill 222 say it could help reduce insurance premiums by allowing insurers to recoup costs from fossil fuel companies — accused of misleading the public about the consequences of their products — rather than relying solely on rate increases.

"The fundamental reason why we have disasters that are so much more frequent and so much bigger in scale than they were five or 10 years ago ... is because of climate change being fueled by fossil fuels," Wiener said in a briefing with reporters on Monday.

"These companies have made that happen and that's why they should be at the table in helping with recovery, and not just dumping all the responsibility on the victims on taxpayers and policyholders."

California is at the forefront of climate change, grappling with increasingly severe and unpredictable weather disasters. From wildfires to floods and extreme heat, communities are bearing the brunt of financial and human costs.

Recent events underscore these costs, with preliminary damages from the Palisades Fire exceed $250 billion. A series of atmospheric rivers last year caused $4.5 billion in destruction across Northern California, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

State homeowners are facing rising home insurance costs. Several major insurance companies have reduced coverage in California or stopped issuing new policies in high-risk areas altogether, citing mounting losses and increasing building costs.

Recent evidence, meanwhile, has painted a picture of the role fossil fuel companies have played in causing climate change and the lengths they have gone to obscure the truth about the effects of burning oil and gas.

This bill will create a legal provision allowing individuals injured by climate disaster and insurers to file a lawsuit against any oil or gas company that has done business in California that misled the public about harm caused by their products.

The measure would also give the state Fair Access to Insurance Requirements, or FAIR plan, the right to sue fossil fuel companies to recover claims related to large climate-driven events such as catastrophic wildfires.

The bill was sponsored by the Center for Climate Integrity, California Environmental Voters advocacy organization, and a group called Extreme Weather Survivors.

Litigation for climate change damages has surged as states, including California, seek accountability from fossil fuel companies. Many of those lawsuits demand billions to address climate-related damages to help recover costs of extreme weather events.

The fossil fuel industry has vigorously defended itself against such lawsuits.

In California, the Western States Petroleum Association said Wiener's bill was politicizing the devastation in Los Angeles and that millions continue to choose and rely on gas-powered vehicles.

"We need real solutions to help victims in the wake of this tragedy, not theatrics," said the group's CEO Catherine Reheis-Boyd in a statement. This measure "is the latest installment of an ongoing effort to scapegoat our industry."

Sen. Roger Niello, a Republican representing Fair Oaks and vice chair of the senate insurance committee, said he believes the bill "will be an invitation for lawsuits."

He also pushed back against focusing so much attention on climate change in the wake of the Los Angeles area fires.

"This furthers the narrative, the false narrative, that this is all about climate change," said Niello, the vice chair of the Senate Insurance Committee. "It is of course much more complicated than that. I would ask: what about forest management?"