Senator Menjivar and Assemblymember Addis Author SB 684 & AB 1243 The Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act of 2025

Californians are paying billions, polluters continue to profit.

SACRAMENTO - The devastating January firestorm in Los Angeles County damaged or destroyed over 7,800 structures in the Palisades Fire, almost 10,500 structures in the Eaton Fire, and claimed the lives of 29 Californians. In the wake of yet another climate catastrophe, Senator Caroline Menjivar (D- San Fernando Valley) and Assemblymember Dawn Addis (D- Morro Bay) have introduced SB 684 and AB 1243 - The Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act of 2025.

“At the core of these disasters are the Californians whose lives and property have been destroyed. Many of whom were already experiencing financial uncertainty due to the rising costs of basic needs; food, housing, utilities, and transportation to work,” said Senator Menjivar. “We must be relentless and creative in pursuing all avenues to redirect the financial burden away from the consumer as we mitigate the consequences of human-made disasters. Profits for polluters skyrocket year over year, and California’s taxpayers simultaneously pinch their pennies for household expenses while also solely footing the bill for catastrophic wildfires and other related disasters. The Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act is a commonsense way to tap into a small fraction of polluters’ profits, and collect their share of the financial burden.”

“The Central Coast has faced the devastating impacts of climate change, from floods and wildfires to coastal erosion. This year’s fires in Los Angeles serve as a stark reminder that collective inaction has catastrophic consequences for all Californians,” said Assemblymember Dawn Addis “I’m proud to partner with my colleague, Senator Menjivar, and a diverse coalition of advocates to establish a climate superfund that will provide critical relief to impacted communities. We can’t deny that climate change is real, and we must take action now to prepare and rebuild after these devastating events.”

California taxpayers are facing an unprecedented and escalating financial burden from recent wildfires and atmospheric river storms, creating an affordability crisis. The recent devastation in Los Angeles alone is estimated to cost Californians at least $250 billion.

The Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act addresses the financial injustices imposed on taxpayers and working families from climate related disasters by requiring fossil fuel polluters to offset the costs pushed down on the taxpayer for the damage caused and enhanced by their products.

The bill identifies and assesses a fee on the small number of the world’s largest fossil fuel polluters, proportional to their fossil fuel emissions since 1990, which is decades after their own scientists advised them of the dire consequences their products would inflict on humanity.

The Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act will:

• Direct CalEPA to complete a climate cost study to quantify total damages to the state (through 2045), caused by past fossil fuel emissions.
• Direct CalEPA to identify responsible parties and assess compensatory fees on the largest fossil fuel polluters proportional to their fossil fuel emissions 1990 through 2024, to address damages quantified in the cost study.
• Fund California’s future. Fees collected will fund projects and programs to mitigate disaster related rate increases for Californians and remedy or prevent climate-related costs and harms. The bill prioritizes labor and job standards and dedicates at least 40% of the funds to benefit disadvantaged communities.

At a time when working families are struggling to pay their bills, The Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act will ensure polluters pay to remedy at least some portion of the burdens they have imposed on Californians, all while amassing exorbitant profits through products they knew were driving the climate crisis and climate-related catastrophes.

“The L.A. fires show with heartbreaking clarity how much we need this bill to make the biggest climate polluters pay for the astronomical damage they’ve caused,” said Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute. "The public shouldn’t be shelling out billions of dollars every year to recover from severe and deadly climate disasters. By passing this commonsense bill, state lawmakers can put the financial burden of climate damage on giant polluting companies, where it belongs.”

"California is facing billions in costs from ongoing devastation and climate impacts, while fossil fuel companies continue profiting from the crisis they created. Right now, taxpayers are left covering the damages, driving up costs for working families,” said Mary Creasman, Chief Executive Officer, California Environmental Voters. “Holding corporate polluters accountable is a necessary step to protecting our economy, strengthening climate resilience, and making California more affordable for everyone. That’s why the Polluters Pay Superfund is so critical – we have to ensure that industry pays their fair share, rather than leaving communities to bear the burden alone.”

“Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California is proud to stand alongside a diverse coalition of community leaders and environmental justice organizations in support of the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act,” said Martha Dina Arguello, Executive Director of Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles and CSHC Steering Committee Member. “This bill represents a unified effort to ensure that Big Oil polluters, who have reaped billions in profits while knowingly sacrificing the health and well-being of frontline environmental justice communities and fueling the climate crisis, are held accountable for the damage they have done. Together, Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles, Communities for a Better Environment, California Environmental Justice Alliance, Black Women for Wellness Action Project, Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment, and Asian Pacific Environmental Network Action demand justice for all California communities by making polluters pay.”

The Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act is modeled on the federal Superfund law (CERCLA) and California’s Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act. The bill is distinct from, complementary to, and does not affect ongoing lawsuits to hold Big Oil accountable for their decades of deception and denial regarding the known, dire risks their products pose.

With the passage of SB 684 and AB 1243, California would join Vermont and New York, the first states to pass climate superfund laws last year.

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