Controversial and potentially unconstitutional legislation to hold fossil fuel companies retroactively responsible for greenhouse gases, and subject them to tens of billions of dollars in damages, will be considered in the closing days of the lame duck Legislature.
Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee Chairman Paul Sarlo (D-36) announced Monday afternoon that his committee would take up the legislation (S-3545/A-4696) on Jan. 8, just days before the current two-year legislative session ends on Jan. 13.
NJBIA, which strongly opposes the measure because of the impact it would have on major New Jersey job creators, their employees, and consumers, said it would work to show lawmakers how damaging and misguided this proposal is.
“As we have repeatedly stated, this bill will, without question, raise our prices at the pump and cost us more to heat our homes during an affordability crisis,” NJBIA Deputy Chief Government Affairs Officer Ray Cantor said in a statement issued Monday after Sarlo’s announcement.
“It is likely unconstitutional in retroactively assessing tens of billions of dollars to companies providing a legal product essential to our survival and prosperity. And it will do nothing to address climate change,” Cantor said.
Only two states – Vermont and New York – have so-called Climate Superfund laws, but neither have been implemented since their enactment in 2024 because of legal challenges from various groups, including the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). The DOJ is seeking to invalidate the laws on the grounds that they are preempted by federal statute, violate the commerce, due process and other clauses of the U.S. Constitution, and interfere with national energy policy.
Cantor said other states that had been contemplating Climate Superfund laws have not followed Vermont and New York’s lead because of the litigation costs that they would face. NJBIA has been working to ensure that New Jersey legislators understand the ramifications of this legislation on major employers in this state, their workers and consumers.
“We are pleased the Legislature has been willing to understand our deep concerns about this bill and is indeed listening and asking the right questions. They know this is not something that should be determined with a few days remaining in a lame duck session,” Cantor said.
