New Bill Would Create Dedicated Funding With No Costs to Taxpayers

Sacramento, Calif.–  Environmental and social justice advocates are urging Governor Newsom and state lawmakers to support the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act (SB 684 / AB 1243), a common-sense revenue-generator that would help ease the financial burden facing the state. Today, Gov. Newsom released his May Revise of the state budget, which showed an estimated shortfall of $12 billion, making the Climate Superfund Act a rare opportunity for the state to recoup costs for the climate impacts already driving the affordability crisis in the state.

The Climate Superfund Act would require the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies to pay their fair share for the damage caused by climate pollution, easing the financial burden of climate disasters on California taxpayers, local and tribal governments, and the state as a whole. At a time when budget cuts threaten critical services, the Superfund Act would provide a new, long-term source of revenue to protect public health and schools, ensure access to clean water and housing, support essential workers, and invest in resilience for frontline communities.

The California Natural Resources Agency estimates that climate disasters will cost California at least $113 billion annually by 2050, but recent climate disasters show this number is only growing. Gov. Newsom and the Legislature championed the allocation of $2.5 billion in relief funds in response to the LA fires, much of which will be spent out of the CA General Fund (i.e. taxpayer dollars).

The Climate Superfund could raise billions of dollars annually from just the top climate polluters. Economists have noted that climate superfunds should not lead to new fees, costs, or taxes on other companies, individual taxpayers or consumers. 

Internal company documents show that major oil corporations knew since the 1950s that fossil fuels could drive a climate crisis with considerable long-term consequences for “civilization.” But these companies chose to gaslight the public and policymakers to block action on climate pollution and the critical transition off fossil fuels. Instead, they pursued record-breaking profits at the expense of the public, engaging in a decades-long cover up. 

The oil industry has used California as a testing ground for misinformation campaigns since the 1950s, pioneering public relations campaigns in the Golden State and aggressively lobbying to stall climate progress. New lobbying disclosures released earlier this month reveal that fossil fuel companies spent at a near record pace, spending over $9 million influencing the legislature in the first three months of 2025, fighting back against polluter accountability bills like the Climate Superfund Act. This Q1 spending spree mirrors Big Oil’s aggressive push in early 2023 to defeat a proposed penalty on oil price gouging.

Advocates say it’s time for the largest fossil fuel corporations in the world to pay their fair share to address climate harms facing the state without further straining taxpayer-funded budgets.

“California’s budget problems are only going to get worse with more costly climate disasters like the L.A. fires, so lawmakers need to look for better solutions,” said Maya Golden-Krasner, deputy director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute. “Instead of putting essential programs on the chopping block, state leaders should hold the largest fossil fuel polluters accountable for the costs of their climate damage to the state. Passing the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act would help protect California’s budget and raise billions of dollars to bolster public services, fortify against future climate catastrophes, and invest in our communities.”

“For decades, California’s most powerful polluters—especially Big Oil—have treated communities of color as sacrifice zones,” said Martha Dina Argüello, Steering Committee Member of the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California and Executive Director of Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles. “The health consequences have been severe: higher in neighborhoods forced to live with toxic emissions and drilling. At the same time, we’re hit first and worst by climate disasters—wildfires, extreme heat, floods—that are intensified by the same fossil fuel pollution. Our communities are paying with their health and their lives while polluters profit. It’s time to make Big Oil pay for the harm they’ve caused. That’s why we strongly support the California Climate Superfund Bill.”

“These are unprecedented times that require unprecedented vision, innovation, and tenacity from our state leaders,” said Mary Creasman, Chief Executive Officer, California Environmental Voters. “Addressing catastrophic fires, heat, storms, drought, and pollution is not separate from addressing the affordability crisis. Unnatural disasters caused by Big Oil’s greed and deception are why energy, food, water, insurance, and housing costs are all rising. The affordability crisis driven by the climate crisis is only going to get worse. The question is whether our state leaders can get polluters to pay their fair share, or if working families are going to continue to bear the financial burden. We urge our leaders to fight for a budget that tackles the climate crisis with urgency and centers those most impacted by climate impacts and rising costs. California cannot afford delayed action.”

“The oil industry, led by WSPA and Chevron, have lobbied for years to create a weak regulatory system that allows them to keep leaky, idle wells for decades and leave taxpayers on the hook for their messes,” said Gabriela Facio, Acting Policy Manager with Sierra Club California. “Facing another historic budget shortfall, now is the perfect time to take power back from Big Oil and make them pay their fair share.”

“California is facing a budget crisis, and yet our elected leaders could ignore a major source of revenue. Fossil fuel driven climate change has cost our state hundreds of billions of dollars, but the corporations responsible expect regular Californians to pick up the tab. Legislators must pass the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Bill so polluters pay for the damages they caused,” said Food & Water Watch California Director Nicole Ghio. “Our current massive budget deficit and these lobbying figures make it clearer than ever that we need to hold polluters accountable for California’s long-term financial sustainability.”

“California is in a budget crisis. Making Polluters Pay is the solution,” said Barry Vesser, Chief Operating Officer for The Climate Center. “The state cannot afford to keep giving Big Oil a pass while working Californians struggle to make ends meet. Passing the Make Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act would shift the burden of paying for climate disasters like the LA fires from taxpayers to wealthy oil and gas corporations. It will generate hundreds of billions of dollars to address California’s budget woes and create hundreds of thousands of good jobs with labor standards. Creating jobs, saving taxpayers money, and investing in California’s future should be a no-brainer.”

“California is staring down painful budget cuts while the fossil fuel industry walks away from the mess it made,” said Cassidy DiPaola, spokesperson for the Make Polluters Pay campaign. “Climate disasters are now costing hundreds of billions every year, and every dollar that Big Oil refuses to pay is a dollar taken from schools, health care, and disaster recovery. The Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act is a chance for California to stop subsidizing climate destruction and start investing in resilience, justice, and accountability. It’s time to make polluters pay.”

“Today’s news of the huge budget deficit in the May revise shows that California is sinking deeper into an affordability crisis,” said Benjamin Smith, Senior Strategic Partnerships Advisor at Greenpeace USA. “That’s why it’s crucial California legislators pass pieces of legislation like the Climate Superfund Act. Our investments in the future shouldn’t have to come from taxpayers who are already struggling to make ends meet. It’s time for the biggest polluters who created this toxic mess and the subsequent escalating, expensive climate disasters to pay their fair share. This is a common sense policy that is urgently needed to protect our public sector workers, critical social programs, and both state and local budgets. We can’t continue draining the coffers of services that Californians need – especially when there’s money available from some of the wealthiest corporations in history who have been making record profits. To take the words right out of President Trump’s mouth: instead of 30 yachts this year, the corporate CEOs making millions could do just fine with two.”

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ABOUT THE CLIMATE SUPERFUND ACT

The Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act would require fossil fuel producers and refiners responsible for more than 1 billion tons of greenhouse gas pollution between 1990 and 2024 to pay into a newly established Polluters Pay Climate Fund. This would fund critical state investments, to finance projects such as:

• Funding community resilience & sustainable infrastructure.
• Protecting the state budget & lowering costs for families.
• Investing in workers, good jobs, training, and opportunities in green infrastructure projects to accelerate the transition away from climate-harming fossil fuel pollution.

The bill is sponsored by the Center for Biological Diversity, Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California, and California Environmental Voters, with support from more than 200 organizations across the state who have voiced their support for its passage.

LCA LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We acknowledge that Sacramento is the traditional home of the Maidu, Miwok and Nisenan people. Part of our commitment to decolonizing ourselves, our language, and our organizations is a commitment to learning and better understanding the history of Indigenous Peoples of so-called California, including the history of contact, colonization and the extraction of resources from Indigenous lands which has been part of the continuation of modern colonization.