PRESS RELEASE
FEBRUARY 21, 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
Senator Menjivar And
Assemblymember
Addis Author SB 684 &
AB 1243 The Polluters
Pay Climate Superfund
Act Of 2025
9/9/25, 3:50 PM Senator Menjivar and Assemblymember Addis Author SB 684 & AB 1243 The Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act of 2025 | Californi… https://sd20.senate.ca.gov/news/senator-menjivar-and-assemblymember-addis-author-sb-684-ab-1243-polluters-pay-climate 1/7 (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
9/9/25, 3:50 PM Senator Menjivar and Assemblymember Addis Author SB 684 & AB 1243 The Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act of 2025 | Californi… https://sd20.senate.ca.gov/news/senator-menjivar-and-assemblymember-addis-author-sb-684-ab-1243-polluters-pay-climate 2/7 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
9/9/25, 3:50 PM Senator Menjivar and Assemblymember Addis Author SB 684 & AB 1243 The Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act of 2025 | Californi… https://sd20.senate.ca.gov/news/senator-menjivar-and-assemblymember-addis-author-sb-684-ab-1243-polluters-pay-climate 3/7 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.”
9/9/25, 3:50 PM Senator Menjivar and Assemblymember Addis Author SB 684 & AB 1243 The Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act of 2025 | Californi… https://sd20.senate.ca.gov/news/senator-menjivar-and-assemblymember-addis-author-sb-684-ab-1243-polluters-pay-climate 4/7 "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
9/9/25, 3:50 PM Senator Menjivar and Assemblymember Addis Author SB 684 & AB 1243 The Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act of 2025 | Californi… https://sd20.senate.ca.gov/news/senator-menjivar-and-assemblymember-addis-author-sb-684-ab-1243-polluters-pay-climate 5/7 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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