Press Releases
February 12, 2025
CALIFORNIA — In the aftermath of the deadly Los Angeles fires, California voters broadly support a new legislative proposal to empower insurers and individuals to recover losses from major oil and gas companies in order to protect California’s insurance market from financial collapse and stop costly rate hikes for Californians who have no other options, according to a new poll released today by Data for Progress and the Center for Climate Integrity.
In January, California State Senator Scott Wiener introduced SB 222, the Affordable Insurance and Climate Recovery Act, which would enable individuals, private insurers, and the FAIR Plan to recover losses directly from oil and gas companies.
“Big Oil companies have fueled the climate crisis through decades of deception and pollution, and now the resulting climate disasters are putting Californians at risk of an uninsurable future,” said Iyla Shornstein, political director for the Center for Climate Integrity. “These findings show that California voters strongly support lawmakers’ common sense proposal for insurers and Californians to be able to recover their losses from major oil and gas companies that they agree are responsible for fueling climate disasters.”
Officials announced yesterday that California’s insurer of last resort, known as the FAIR Plan, must impose a $1 billion charge on insurance companies — who will pass on the costs to policyholders — in order to avoid insolvency from paying claims in the aftermath of the deadly Los Angeles fires.
The new survey of 656 likely voters in California, including an oversample in Los Angeles County, found:
60 percent of California voters support a policy proposal such as SB 222 that would enable insurers and individuals harmed by climate disasters and extreme weather events, like the recent wildfires in California, to recover their losses from oil and gas companies directly, with each component of the bill receiving majority support:
Protecting California's insurance market from financial collapse and stopping costly rate hikes for Californians who have no other insurance options (74 percent support).
Allowing individuals and small businesses whose property is damaged by climate disasters and extreme weather events to recover their costs by suing oil and gas companies that misled the public about the harm their products would cause (59 percent support).
Requiring insurance companies to sue oil and gas companies to make them pay for damages from extreme weather and climate disasters they knew their products would cause before raising rates for policyholders (56 percent support).
57 percent of California voters believe that the fossil fuel industry is very or somewhat responsible for the recent California wildfires.
Read the poll memo and full crosstabs.