As LA Turns To Recovery, Senator Wiener Introduces Bill To Boost Insurance Affordability & Allow Victims To Recover Damages From Big Oil

SACRAMENTO – Senators Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) introduced SB 222, the Affordable Insurance and Climate Recovery Act. SB 222 improves insurance affordability in California by shifting the burden of increased insurance costs away from California ratepayers to the fossil fuel companies driving the climate crisis, and makes victims of major climate disasters whole by allowing them to seek damages from fossil fuel companies in court. Major fossil fuel companies intentionally misled the public for decades about the impacts of their products, and now Californians are paying the price with devastating wildfires, mud slides, sea level rise, and skyrocketing insurance costs. When climate disasters strike, SB 222 allows homeowners and businesses to recover damages from the fossil fuel companies responsible for the disasters.

The increasing frequency and severity of climate disasters has sent insurance prices skyrocketing across California and has pushed many families into the state’s insurer of last resort, the FAIR Plan. When the costs of climate disasters grow too high, both private insurers and the FAIR Plan recover losses by charging higher prices on California policyholders. By allowing insurance companies and the FAIR Plan to recoup losses for major climate disasters from the fossil fuel companies responsible for the damage, SB 222 provides a major infusion of financial support to stabilize the insurance market and contain the high cost of insurance for Californians.

In addition to Senator Wiener, SB 222 is primary co-authored by Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance), and co-authored by Senators Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Pasadena), Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach), Caroline Menjivar (D-San Fernando Valley), Henry Stern (D-Los Angeles), Jerry McNerney (D-Stockton) and Assemblymember Dawn Addis (D-Morro Bay).

SB 222 is sponsored by the Center for Climate Integrity, California Environmental Voters, and Extreme Weather Survivors.

“Californians are paying a devastating price for the climate crisis, as escalating disasters destroy entire communities and drive insurance costs through the roof,” said Senator Wiener. “Containing these costs is critical to our recovery and to the future of our state. By forcing the fossil fuel companies driving the climate crisis to pay their fair share, we can help stabilize our insurance market and make the victims of climate disasters whole.”

“The Eaton Fire destroyed over 9,000 structures in my District, wiping out almost the entire town of Altadena, leaving thousands of my residents calling for justice and accountability,” said Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Pasadena). “Our communities have never seen anything like this in urban Los Angeles. The reality is that climate change is here and will continue impacting communities everywhere. What makes this worse is decades ago, Big Oil knew this would be our future, but prioritized lining their own pockets at the expense of our environment and the health of our communities. The Affordable Insurance and Climate Recovery Act will hold the oil industry responsible for the damage it has inflicted, and provide relief for future communities impacted by climate disasters.”

“The backstop for wildfire insurance funds shouldn’t just be other California policyholders,” said Senator Stern. “Those who caused these fires to become more dangerous with their pollution should finally pay their fair share.”

"California's taxpayers and property owners are shouldering the sole financial burden of damages caused by accelerated climate change. From the billions of dollars we must now budget at the federal, state, and local levels to our insurance premiums," said Senator Menjivar. "This year my fellow legislators and I are developing a cohesive bill package, which includes SB 222, to finally hold polluters responsible for their share of the costs."

“Climate justice is about ensuring everyday Californians are not left to bear the burden of climate disasters,” said Assemblymember Addis. “SB 222 enables private persons and insurers to seek accountability from polluters who misled the public; it’s part of a package of bills we’re working on to hold those who profited from this crisis accountable for their actions.”

California is on the front lines of the climate crisis, as increasingly extreme and variable weather triggers ever more-frequent large-scale disasters. Floods, mudslides, extreme heat events, and other climate-driven catastrophes increasingly plague communities across the state and impose punishing costs on California communities:

• The preliminary assessment of damages from the Palisades fire is over $250 billion.
• A series of atmospheric rivers pummeled Northern California in 2024, causing $4.5 billion in damage. 
• From 2018-2022, California had the largest number of average acres burned annually and the most residences destroyed due to wildfires of any state within the United States.

“As a Palisades High alum, I know the devastation caused by the Los Angeles fires is incomprehensible,” said Sierra Kos, co-Executive Director of Extreme Weather Survivors. “Like our network of small business owners, homeowners and renters across the country, people in LA are now too facing the catastrophic financial and emotional burden of rebuilding their communities. It’s not fair to force California taxpayers to shoulder the entire cost of what it's going to take to keep insurance companies – including the FAIR plan – solvent. The oil and gas companies who helped cause this steep rise in extreme weather events across the country – including the LA fires – should have to chip in too.

“Telling my son his school burned down during the fires was one of the hardest things I ever had to do,” said Amanda McPhillips, a single mother of two young children and a member of Extreme Weather Survivors who evacuated from her beloved rental home during the LA fires in the early morning hours. “Dozens of families and friends in our community are facing heartbreaking challenges – rebuilding homes, finding space for schools, cleaning and smoke remediation, navigating it all is beyond overwhelming – and the escalating expense of it all makes it even more daunting. SB 222 means the cost is not only on us, it’s also on the companies who help cause these disasters.”

"Californians are enduring the devastating consequences of the fossil fuel industry’s pollution, devastating wildfires like those in Los Angeles, rising insurance costs, and communities pushed to their limits," said Matt Abularach-Macias, LA resident and Deputy Campaigns Director, California Environmental Voters. "The Affordable Insurance and Climate Recovery Act gives those harmed by climate disasters the tools to recover their losses directly from the corporations that have profited while fueling the crisis. It’s a step toward justice for families forced to rebuild their lives and long-overdue accountability for polluters who must take responsibility for the devastation they’ve caused."

“Our Los Angeles friends and family members — who are taking stock of the unimaginable loss of their homes, livelihoods, and communities — deserve a way to seek justice and recover their losses from the lying and polluting corporations that are most responsible,” said Center for Climate Integrity (CCI) Political Director Iyla Shornstein. “This bill puts people first, and creates a mechanism for individuals to do just that. Before any more Californians lose insurance coverage, or are forced to pay a rate hike, it’s time to hold Big Oil accountable and make these companies pay for the damages they’ve caused.

“We’re in an insurance crisis because of the climate crisis, and we’re in a climate crisis because of Big Oil’s decades-long deception,” Shornstein said. “This groundbreaking legislation rightfully lays blame for the climate-fueled insurance crisis on the oil and gas corporations that have deceived the public, policymakers, and insurers for decades about the catastrophic consequences their business would have on communities and policyholders.”

The increasing frequency and severity of disasters is placing extreme stress on California’s insurance market. Last year, rising risks led major insurers to increase rates by as much as 48% for some families. Meanwhile, millions of families are simply seeing insurers refuse to renew their plans: between 2020 and 2022, insurance companies declined to renew 2.8 million homeowner policies in the state, including 531,000 in Los Angeles County. In 2024, California had the fourth-highest rate of nonrenewal in the country after Florida, Louisiana, and North Carolina.

As families are pushed out of their private market insurance plans, they are forced into the FAIR Plan. Between 2020 and 2024, the number of homes covered by the plan tripled to a value of $458 billion, and the number of businesses rose 464% to a value of $26.6 billion. This explosive growth dramatically increased the risk held by the FAIR Plan, and since the FAIR Plan assesses a fee on all California policyholders to cover losses that exceed its reserves, the FAIR Plan’s precarious financial position puts homeowners across the state at risk of unsustainable cost increases.

“The dirty secret of our current insurance crisis is that fossil fuel companies have lied and misled the public about the damage their products cause,” said Robert Herrell, Executive Director of the Consumer Federation of California. “This bill gives consumers a fair shot at getting true accountability for these crises. To improve insurance affordability we must make fossil fuel companies pay their fair share.”

“This bill will be much needed relief for the victims of the wildfires who cannot recover their full losses through their insurance policies and for the insurance companies who have to pay claims caused for disasters that the fossil fuel industry created,” said Jamie Court, President of Consumer Watchdog.  “Oil companies caused climate change and profited wildly by knowingly hiding the consequences from the public for decades. They should pay their fair share for the damage their actions caused.”

"Corporations that profit off of deception and climate pollution should be held responsible for the climate-driven wildfires that are burning down Californians' homes,” said Victoria Rome, California Government Affairs Director at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council). “The Affordable Insurance and Climate Recovery Act will help fix the damage."

SB 222 will create a private right of action so that individuals injured by climate disasters and extreme weather events will be able to recover their losses from the oil and gas companies that misled the public about the harm their products would cause. Defendants will be strictly liable for damages.

SB 222 will additionally create a direct cause of action for insurers against the oil and gas companies that misled the public about the harm their products would cause. This option allows insurers to recover for harms to their business that result from climate related impacts and increasing costs that threaten the viability of insurance in the normal insurance market and through the FAIR Plan in California.

If an independent expert assessment determines that the benefits of FAIR Plan litigation outweigh the costs, SB 222 will require the FAIR Plan to exercise its right of subrogation against oil and gas companies (the right to sue them on behalf of injured policyholders) to recover claims paid toward large climate-driven events such as catastrophic wildfires.

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