Lawmakers Stand with Californians Demanding Corporate Accountability for California’s Insurance Affordability Crisis

SACRAMENTO, CA — Today, the Affordable Insurance Now Coalition released the following statement in response to the Senate Judiciary Committee advancing SB 982, the Affordable Insurance and Recovery Act. 

Affordable Insurance Now is a campaign to protect California’s homeowners, renters, and business owners from skyrocketing insurance costs. Rapidly increasing disasters are causing premiums to spike and this campaign supports new legislation that will stabilize the insurance market and help those most impacted. Member groups include bill sponsors Extreme Weather Survivors, California Environmental Voters, the Center for Climate Integrity, and others.

The growing coalition is demanding long-term, transformational change on insurance affordability and corporate accountability, and it’s only gaining momentum. More than 90 consumer, labor, climate, and community organizations have endorsed SB 982, alongside 27,000+ Californians who have contacted lawmakers in support. Advocates and cultural leaders including Dolores Huerta, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Kathy Griffin, and Sophia Bush have weighed in, urging accountability for rising disaster costs, and a new wave of content creators have amplified the call, bringing the fight for affordable insurance to more than 25 million across platforms.

“Our legislators chose to stand with Californians instead of Big Oil today and the urgency of this moment can’t be overstated. We know 66% of voters across party lines are demanding that the billion-dollar corporations responsible for the climate crisis pay their share of increases in home insurance costs. Our communities are being battered by disasters while families face skyrocketing premiums and shrinking coverage options in real time,” said Mary Creasman, Chief Executive Officer, California Environmental Voters. “By voting to advance this bill, the Judiciary Committee and Senators Scott Wiener, Angelique Ashby, Ben Allen, Anna Caballero, Eloise Gómez Reyes, John Laird, Jerry McNerney, Akilah Weber Pierson, Henry Stern, and Tom Umberg send a clear message that Californians will not be left to carry the cost of Big Oil’s damage any longer. There is no way out of the insurance and affordability crises without Big Oil paying its fair share. We look forward to the Insurance Committee standing with Californians tomorrow.”

“We built our lives in Altadena over more than 30 years, and in a single moment, everything was gone,” said Gayle Ali, an Altadena homeowner who testified before the judiciary committee after losing her home in last year’s fires. “We are only able to rebuild because of community support, but we still don’t know what insurance will look like or what it will cost moving forward. Right now, survivors and taxpayers are the only ones paying for these disasters. We support this bill because it’s about fairness. If corporations helped create this crisis, they should have to pay something too.”

“This is a major step forward for the families living through California’s insurance crisis,” said Sierra Kos, Co-Founder, Extreme Weather Survivors. “For too long, survivors have been left to carry the financial burden of disasters they didn’t cause. Today’s vote signals that lawmakers are ready to stand with communities and begin shifting those costs off of everyday people and onto the corporations responsible.”

“This is an important step towards a fairer system for dealing with growing costs of climate change, which are a key driver of California’s insurance and affordability crises,” said Iyla Shornstein, Political Director at the Center for Climate Integrity. “Big Oil knew decades ago that their products would supercharge drought, floods and sea level rise, but lied to the public about it. It’s time for them to pay their fair share of the financial consequences, rather than everyday Californians.”

“This is a historic turning point for California,” said Yvette Martinez, Executive Director of the Affordable Insurance Now coalition. “For the first time, we are moving beyond an era where polluters could offload the costs of climate disasters onto families and toward a future of true corporate accountability. This vote is a momentum-shifting win for every survivor across the state still rebuilding what took a lifetime to create. It sends a clear signal that the status quo is over: California is stepping forward to ensure the burden of this crisis no longer falls on survivors alone, and that the companies responsible for these disasters are finally part of the solution.”

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