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<ns0:Id>20250SB__098299INT</ns0:Id>
<ns0:VersionNum>99</ns0:VersionNum>
<ns0:History>
<ns0:Action>
<ns0:ActionText>INTRODUCED</ns0:ActionText>
<ns0:ActionDate>2026-02-04</ns0:ActionDate>
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<ns0:LegislativeInfo>
<ns0:SessionYear>2025</ns0:SessionYear>
<ns0:SessionNum>0</ns0:SessionNum>
<ns0:MeasureType>SB</ns0:MeasureType>
<ns0:MeasureNum>982</ns0:MeasureNum>
<ns0:MeasureState>INT</ns0:MeasureState>
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<ns0:AuthorText authorType="LEAD_AUTHOR">Introduced by Senator Wiener</ns0:AuthorText>
<ns0:AuthorText authorType="COAUTHOR_ORIGINATING">(Coauthors: Senators Allen, Gonzalez, McNerney, Reyes, Stern, and Weber Pierson)</ns0:AuthorText>
<ns0:AuthorText authorType="COAUTHOR_OPPOSITE">(Coauthors: Assembly Members Addis, Connolly, Elhawary, Garcia, Hart, and Lee)</ns0:AuthorText>
<ns0:Authors>
<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>LEAD_AUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>SENATE</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Wiener</ns0:Name>
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<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>SENATE</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Allen</ns0:Name>
</ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>SENATE</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Gonzalez</ns0:Name>
</ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>SENATE</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>McNerney</ns0:Name>
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<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>SENATE</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Reyes</ns0:Name>
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<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>SENATE</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Stern</ns0:Name>
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<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>SENATE</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Weber Pierson</ns0:Name>
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<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>ASSEMBLY</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Addis</ns0:Name>
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<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>ASSEMBLY</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Connolly</ns0:Name>
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<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>ASSEMBLY</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Elhawary</ns0:Name>
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<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>ASSEMBLY</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Garcia</ns0:Name>
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<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>ASSEMBLY</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Hart</ns0:Name>
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<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>ASSEMBLY</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Lee</ns0:Name>
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<ns0:Title> An act to add Part 3.5 (commencing with Section 3508.5) to Division 4 of the Civil Code, relating to climate disasters.</ns0:Title>
<ns0:RelatingClause>climate disasters</ns0:RelatingClause>
<ns0:GeneralSubject>
<ns0:Subject>Climate disasters: civil actions.</ns0:Subject>
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<ns0:DigestText>
<html:p>Existing law gives a person the right of protection from bodily harm and the right to possess and use property. If a person suffers bodily harm or a loss of their property because of the unlawful act or omission of another, existing law authorizes them to recover compensation from the person at fault, which is known as damages. Existing law authorizes the Attorney General to bring various civil actions due to damage or loss.</html:p>
<html:p>This bill would authorize the Attorney General to bring a civil action against a party responsible for climate-attributable damage to recover losses suffered by the California FAIR Plan Association, funds borrowed from the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank, or costs to insurance policyholders arising from a past climate disaster. The bill would make responsible parties strictly liable for any relief
granted. The bill would create the Attorney General Climate Disaster Fund into which the monetary relief recovered by the Attorney General, excluding restitution, would be deposited, and would set forth specified uses for the account upon appropriation by the Legislature.</html:p>
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<ns0:DigestKey>
<ns0:VoteRequired>MAJORITY</ns0:VoteRequired>
<ns0:Appropriation>NO</ns0:Appropriation>
<ns0:FiscalCommittee>YES</ns0:FiscalCommittee>
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<ns0:Preamble>The people of the State of California do enact as follows:</ns0:Preamble>
<ns0:BillSection id="id_E7D05B47-C9E8-446F-8FBE-717C20603198">
<ns0:Num>SECTION 1.</ns0:Num>
<ns0:Content>
<html:p>
(a)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
</html:p>
<html:p>
(1)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Climate disasters have caused widespread harm to this state and its residents, including destruction of homes and property, loss of wages, escalating insurance and rental costs, depletion of public resources, and injuries to Californians’ health, safety, and livelihoods. Financial challenges are mounting for many households as federal disaster assistance is withheld, the costs of rebuilding increase, and insurance companies cease payments to displaced families struggling to return to their residences.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(2)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Since 2018, California has experienced the largest wildfires in state history,
including the deadly and destructive Los Angeles wildfires in January 2025, which resulted in estimated insured residential and commercial property losses of $28,000,000,000 to $40,000,000,000. These climate change-induced wildfires have burned millions of acres, destroyed tens of thousands of structures, and upended affordable access to insurance across this state.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(3)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Insurance premiums for rental and multifamily properties have spiked by over 30 percent and have contributed to increased housing costs in many parts of the state. Landlords pass these costs on directly to tenants in the form of higher rents, which can contribute to housing instability, displacement, and eviction, disproportionately burdening renters and low-income households.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(4)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Access to affordable insurance is necessary for the stability and financial health of Californians and California businesses, and is a
crucial anchor for economic development in the state. Affordable insurance access is threatened by increasing nonrenewals and rapidly rising premiums in many parts of this state.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(5)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
As insurers in this state reduce coverage in wildfire-prone and other high-risk areas, Californians have become increasingly dependent on the California FAIR Plan Association (FAIR Plan). The FAIR Plan, created in 1968 as a temporary safety net, has expanded by more than 500 percent in less than a decade, growing from around 126,000 policies in 2018 to more than 700,000 policies in the fall of 2025. As of September 2025, the FAIR Plan was insuring nearly $700,000,000,000 in property across this state, a 52-percent increase from 2024 and a 317-percent increase from 2021.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(6)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
In February 2025, the Insurance Commissioner approved a $1,000,000,000 FAIR Plan assessment against member insurers, the first
assessment in more than 30 years.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(7)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The costs of direct and anticipated assessments to cover climate-related losses diminish insurer profitability and prompt insurers to limit new business, decline renewals, or withdraw from this state. When those costs are passed through to policyholders, coverage becomes less affordable, driving even more Californians into the FAIR Plan or leaving them underinsured or uninsured.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(8)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Climate disasters, fueled by the deceptive conduct of responsible parties, are making insurance coverage harder to obtain and less affordable, which negatively impacts credit and housing markets. The loss or unaffordability of coverage impedes access to mortgage financing, which in turn depresses property values, heightens the risk of defaults and foreclosures, and slows the rate of new housing development, further exacerbating this state’s critical housing
shortage.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(9)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The costs of climate disasters and forecasts of future climate disaster costs are leading factors affecting insurance instability in this state. In a recent filing requesting increased FAIR Plan rates, projected catastrophic wildfire risk was responsible for more than 50 percent of the requested rate increase.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(10)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The climate disasters underlying the insurance crisis in California are the result of a decades-long, coordinated campaign of deception launched and orchestrated by major fossil fuel companies. These companies knew that their products would cause global warming and increase the frequency and severity of climate disasters. Despite this knowledge, the fossil fuel companies concealed and misrepresented the associated risks, sowed confusion, and failed to warn the public of the dangers created and exacerbated by their products.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(11)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Climate disasters and the resulting harms experienced throughout this state are a direct consequence of fossil fuel companies’ acts and omissions.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(b)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
It is the intent of the Legislature to establish express statutory mechanisms to authorize the Attorney General to obtain relief for climate-attributable damage from responsible parties, as defined in this act. These express statutory mechanisms are in addition to, and supplement, existing legal authority retained by the Attorney General.
</html:p>
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<ns0:Num>SEC. 2.</ns0:Num>
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Part 3.5 (commencing with Section 3508.5) is added to Division 4 of the
<ns0:DocName>Civil Code</ns0:DocName>
, to read:
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<ns0:LawHeading type="PART" id="id_3569B878-E4A5-409B-9846-5E73B22F98A5">
<ns0:Num>3.5.</ns0:Num>
<ns0:LawHeadingVersion id="id_83334488-6962-4E94-8D07-63498B59D838">
<ns0:LawHeadingText>Climate Disaster Actions</ns0:LawHeadingText>
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<ns0:LawSection id="id_CF184B1C-6E3D-4D34-894C-DEEF80CE1190">
<ns0:Num>3508.5.</ns0:Num>
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<ns0:Content>
<html:p>
(a)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
“Affiliated entity” includes a parent or subsidiary corporation and a related business entity under common ownership or control, if the relationship is financial in nature, including consolidated financial reporting or the enhancement of profitability for the parent entity.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(b)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
“Climate-attributable damage” means harm occurring in this state to real or personal property, tangible assets, or economic interests connected to a climate disaster.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(c)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
“Climate disaster” means an extreme weather event, including a wildfire, heatwave, drought, windstorm, hurricane, flood, tornado, or other storm, provided that climate change was a substantial factor in the event’s frequency,
severity, location, timing, or extent.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(d)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
“Fossil fuel product” includes crude petroleum oil and all other hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, that are produced at the wellhead in liquid form by ordinary production methods, including natural, manufactured, mixed, and byproduct hydrocarbon gas, refined crude oil, crude tops, topped crude, processed crude, processed crude petroleum, residue from crude petroleum, cracking stock, uncracked fuel oil, fuel oil, treated crude oil, residuum, gas oil, casinghead gasoline, natural gas gasoline, kerosene, benzine, wash oil, waste oil, blended gasoline, lubricating oil, and blends or mixtures of oil with one or more liquid products or byproducts derived from oil or gas.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(e)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
(1)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
“Responsible party” means a firm, corporation, company, partnership, society, joint stock company, or any other affiliated entity that meets
all of the following criteria:
</html:p>
<html:p>
(A)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Has an aggregate market capitalization or worldwide annual revenue across the parent entity and all affiliated entities of at least five hundred million dollars ($500,000,000), determined by an average capitalization or revenue over the preceding three years.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(B)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Has been or is engaged in the extraction, production, manufacture, or sale at wholesale of fossil fuel products.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(C)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Does or did business in this state, was registered to do business in this state, was appointed an agent of this state, or otherwise had sufficient contacts with this state to be subject to this state’s jurisdiction.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(2)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
“Responsible party” does not include tribal or state government, a political subdivision of tribal or state government, or an
employee of the tribal or state government on the basis of acts or omissions in the course of official duties.
</html:p>
</ns0:Content>
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</ns0:LawSection>
<ns0:LawSection id="id_F190F42D-7B34-43F5-BAAC-4544366032F4">
<ns0:Num>3508.5.1.</ns0:Num>
<ns0:LawSectionVersion id="id_A910A708-A6EE-4405-B180-9824A2FFC1C3">
<ns0:Content>
<html:p>
(a)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The Attorney General may bring a civil action in the name of the people of the State of California, as parens patriae, against a responsible party for any of the following:
</html:p>
<html:p>
(1)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Recovery of losses suffered by the California FAIR Plan Association from climate-attributable damage, including recovery of an assessment imposed on member insurers of the California FAIR Plan Association, pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 10094 of the Insurance Code, or funds borrowed, plus interest on that debt amount, from the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank, pursuant to Section 63049.75 of the Government Code, for the portion of the costs of claims resulting from a climate disaster.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(2)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Recovery of costs to insurance policyholders arising from a past climate disaster, including real property measures to obtain or maintain insurance coverage at fair market value, an increase in insurance premiums, a higher cost of coverage through a nonadmitted insurer, an insurer withdrawal from the market, a reduction in coverage availability, or cessation of the issuance of new residential property insurance policies.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(b)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
In a civil action against a responsible party under this part, the attorney general may recover or obtain any of the following relief:
</html:p>
<html:p>
(1)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
All climate-attributable damage described in subdivision (a).
</html:p>
<html:p>
(2)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Restitution.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(3)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Disgorgement.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(4)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Court costs, litigation expenses, and reasonable attorney’s fees.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(5)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Any other relief that the court or jury deems proper.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(c)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
A responsible party shall be strictly liable for any relief afforded under this part.
</html:p>
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</ns0:LawSection>
<ns0:LawSection id="id_6E8E7D0F-B541-419B-8789-9E94AA48540A">
<ns0:Num>3508.5.2.</ns0:Num>
<ns0:LawSectionVersion id="id_2FA0EBD2-C661-4A5A-95AE-A96A350A2A28">
<ns0:Content>
<html:p>The Attorney General Climate Disaster Fund is hereby created as an account in the State Treasury.</html:p>
<html:p>
(a)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
All monetary relief recovered by the Attorney General under this part, except restitution, shall be deposited into the account.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(b)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Funds in the account shall be expended by the Attorney General for investigations, civil actions, and enforcement pursuant to this part.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(c)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Funds in the account shall be used exclusively for the purposes described in this part upon appropriation by the Legislature.
</html:p>
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<ns0:LawSection id="id_8355134B-83FF-4AAA-B001-DF7F5CFAD7D2">
<ns0:Num>3508.5.3.</ns0:Num>
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<ns0:Content>
<html:p>Monetary relief recovered under this part shall be distributed in the following order:</html:p>
<html:p>
(a)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Sums necessary to pay restitution to a policyholder or insured, and to cover claims administration costs.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(b)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Payments to the California FAIR Plan Association for climate-attributable damage and to meet its outstanding payment obligations to the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank on funds borrowed pursuant to Section 63049.75 of the Government Code.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(c)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Payments to the California Safe Homes grant program, established pursuant to Section 2033 of the Insurance Code, to improve insurability and resilience of vulnerable
communities and reimburse eligible property-level hazard mitigation and adaptation projects.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(d)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Costs of suit and attorney’s fees awarded in an action pursuant to paragraph (4) of subdivision (b) of Section 3508.5.1.
</html:p>
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<ns0:LawSection id="id_34C91970-A9CC-4266-97CC-28A432FD8D30">
<ns0:Num>3508.5.4.</ns0:Num>
<ns0:LawSectionVersion id="id_4508B27D-F0FD-4580-85BF-5432EBA6BE6C">
<ns0:Content>
<html:p>This part does not limit or affect any of the following:</html:p>
<html:p>
(a)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Enforcement of an existing right, action, or remedy available under any other law.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(b)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Mandated disaster recovery funds, designated disaster recovery funds established by legislation or administrative rule, or mandated insurance claim payouts.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(c)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
An equitable or statutory right of subrogation or indemnification, or a contractual right or obligation, except as expressly provided in this part.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(d)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Impair, expand, or otherwise modify the powers and duties of the Insurance Commissioner under the Insurance Code,
including authority with respect to a rate or surcharge approved under Section 1861.05 of the Insurance Code.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(e)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Relieve the liability or enforcement under any other law of an entity for damages provided by any other law.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(f)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Impose liability on speech or conduct protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, as made applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, or by Section 2 of Article I of the California Constitution.
</html:p>
</ns0:Content>
</ns0:LawSectionVersion>
</ns0:LawSection>
<ns0:LawSection id="id_4157AD0A-2F40-410F-B49A-7047D78476CE">
<ns0:Num>3508.5.5.</ns0:Num>
<ns0:LawSectionVersion id="id_27931F7C-6E16-4C07-83A7-4FAEBC5775BD">
<ns0:Content>
<html:p>The entry of judgment in an action brought under this part shall not bar a pending or future claim or action by the state or a subdivision thereof against a party that is potentially liable for climate harms due to the party’s misleading or deceptive practices or the provision of misinformation or disinformation about the connection between fossil fuel products and climate change.</html:p>
</ns0:Content>
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<ns0:BillSection id="id_CD2FBFA9-CDB4-488A-B548-92B2E53D1415">
<ns0:Num>SEC. 3.</ns0:Num>
<ns0:Content>
<html:p>The provisions of this act are severable. If any provision of this act or its application is held invalid, that invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application.</html:p>
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