Quick Take
A bill by Assemblymember Dawn Addis to make fossil fuel companies pay for climate disasters stalled amid heavy industry lobbying and opposition. It's delayed until 2026 but remains "viable."
As California’s legislative chambers debate and analyze each other’s approved bills ahead of their summer recess next week, one notable proposal by a Central Coast lawmaker has been left out of the discussions.
By attempting to force the most carbon-emitting fossil fuel companies to foot the bill for climate disasters, such as January’s Altadena fire, in proportion to the greenhouse gases and pollution they’ve produced since 1990, Assemblymember Dawn Addis’ Assembly Bill 1243 marked one of the more ambitious pieces of legislation proposed this year. Known as the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act of 2025, it is a companion to Senate Bill 684, an identical bill which state Sen. Caroline Menjivar reworked from a proposal she attempted in 2024.
However, after surviving early committee votes, Addis said the bill, unable to overcome widespread opposition from several industry lobby groups and hesitation from some lawmakers, is on hold for now. The authors pulled the legislation in April before a judiciary committee hearing and never reintroduced it. The proposal would have needed to at least pass the state Senate and Assembly’s judiciary and appropriations committees before hitting the floor for full chamber votes.
The deadline for bills to make it out of their respective chambers passed on June 6. This means Addis and Menjivar will have to wait until the legislature reconvenes in January 2026 to pick back up in the judiciary committee and take another swing.
Addis attributed the fossil fuel industry’s success to the cash it spent lobbying. In the first quarter of 2025, fossil fuel companies have claimed the two most expensive lobbying bills in Sacramento. Chevron and the Western States Petroleum Association spent a combined $5.5 million on lobbying in the California capital across the first three months of the year.
“It comes down to that they are able to spend the money to get their message out and they are able to get their message out in ways that sometimes can be compelling for some people,” Addis told Lookout on Thursday. “We need to do a better job.”
The highlights of that message, so far, include worries that the companies would take such a financial hit that they’d be forced to shutter in-state oil and gas refineries, which would eliminate jobs and increase the likelihood that California would import more of its fossil fuels, and jack up gas prices.
Influential labor and business organizations, such as the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California and the California Chamber of Commerce, have opposed the bill. The former has argued that the state needs to focus on reducing demand for fossil fuels rather than penalizing its way toward a solution. The chamber of commerce has argued that the bill’s retroactive fines would discourage businesses from wanting to operate in, or with, California.
During an April hearing on the bill, Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur, a Southern California Democrat, acknowledged the “valid point” about the state needing to focus its efforts on reducing fossil fuel demand. He criticized the bill as too vague and said he couldn’t see another result besides the closure of refineries and increased gas prices.
On Thursday, Addis emphasized her commitment to the bill, but charted a hazy course for its passage. She said she and her co-author had to “continue conversations with people who are voicing their concerns, and bring people to the table.”
Pressed on who, or where, exactly she thought she needed to focus in order for the bill to pass, Addis kept it broad.
“Anybody who has concerns,” she said. “Honestly, the conversations are pretty wide open at this time.”
Addis described the bill as “still viable.” Another dimension that could alter its path or final form is the Trump administration’s lawsuits against the states of New York and Vermont for similar bills that attempt to force fossil fuel polluters to pay for their contribution to climate disasters.
Addis said if the bill can make it through the judiciary committee, it will likely need a blessing from the Senate and Assembly’s appropriation committees.
“I don’t want to sugarcoat it, it’s a tough road, but I do feel good about it,” Addis said. “I’m committed to this issue long term. It’s the right thing for the people who I represent, but also for the millions of Californians who have gone through devastating climate disasters.”
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