The Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act of 2025 (SB 684 and AB 1243), introduced by State Sen. Caroline Menjivar and State Assemblymember Dawn Addis, addresses the financial injustices imposed on taxpayers and working families from climate-related disasters by requiring fossil fuel polluters to pay for the destruction they cause.
“This year’s fires in Los Angeles serve as a stark reminder that collective inaction has catastrophic consequences for all Californians,” said Addis. “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 LA is estimated to cost Californians at least $250 billion.
“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 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.”
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. The act will ensure polluters pay to remedy a portion of the burdens they have imposed on Californians.
“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,” said Menjivar. “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 nonprofit California Environmental Voters announced it’s co-sponsoring the act along with the Center for Biological Diversity and The Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California (CSHC).
“Holding corporate polluters accountable is a necessary step to protecting our economy, strengthening climate resilience and making California more affordable for everyone,” said Mary Creasman, CEO of California Environmental Voters. “We have to ensure that industry pays their fair share, rather than leaving communities to bear the burden alone.”
Martha Dina Arguello, executive director of Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles and CSHC steering committee member, said they are proud to stand alongside environmental justice advocates in supporting the bill.
“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,” said Arguello.