SACRAMENTO, California — A California state Democrat’s proposal to give insurance companies a legal course of action to sue oil and gas companies for the costs of disasters made worse by climate change failed to advance past a key committee Tuesday.
What happened: Sen. Scott Wiener’s SB 222 would create a clear legal pathway for individuals and insurance companies to sue oil companies for damages from disasters like the Los Angeles fires. It would also require the FAIR Plan, the state’s insurer of last resort, to try to recoup costs from oil and gas companies when it runs out of cash reserves before charging the state’s policyholders.
It failed to pass the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, garnering only five “yes” votes, below the required seven-vote minimum, and two “no” votes. Moderate Democrats seemed touched by a long line of building and electrical union workers who came out to oppose the bill citing possible cost increases.
“That’s what I hear out in my community, that the costs are so high,” said Sen. Angelique Ashby, in explaining why she would not vote for the bill. “I think in the end, this bill for me is too much about a private right of action and a litigation strategy, and is too much money spent on lawyers and courts.”
