SB 1161 – Climate Science
Truth & Accountability Act
SENATOR BEN ALLEN
SUMMARY
Internal industry documents show that many of the
world's largest fossil fuel companies knowingly worked
to deceive the public about the realities and risks of
climate change for decades—even while companies
factored projected climate change impacts into their own
business operations. SB 1161 seeks to extend the statute
of limitations under the state’s Unfair Competition Law
to 30 years for deceptive behavior relating to scientific
evidence of climate change.

BACKGROUND
The fundamentals of global warming – that the buildup
of heat-trapping emissions in the atmosphere from the
burning of fossil fuels is warming global temperatures –
have been well established for generations. Fifty years
ago, President Lyndon Johnson warned about the
potential dangers of a changing climate, and by the late
1980s climate change was well recognized in the
scientific community, supported by multi-disciplinary
science, and was widely acknowledged in the public
sphere.
Recent research has shown that nearly two-thirds of all
industrial carbon dioxide and methane released into the
atmosphere since the dawn of the industrial revolution
can be traced to just 90 entities. The top five investorowned companies on the list— Chevron, ExxonMobil,
British Petroleum, Shell, and ConocoPhillips—are
responsible for one-eighth of all emissions.
New discoveries by Inside Climate News, the Los
Angeles Times, and a Union of Concerned Scientists’
report, The Climate Deception Dossiers, show that by
the 1980s the fossil fuel industry was well aware of the
emerging scientific consensus that emissions from the
burning of fossil fuels was increasing global
temperature. In fact, many companies engaged in their
own climate change research and shared some of this
research with others in the industry. Exxon’s own
climate scientists, for example, conducted cutting-edge
climate change research in the late 1970s and early
1980s. There is also evidence that companies began

OFFICE OF SENATOR BEN ALLEN

factoring projected climate change into their own
business decisions and operations.
Despite documented evidence that fossil fuel companies
knew the risks and likely consequences of processing
and burning their products (oil, coal, and gas), the
industry chose a course of denial and deception. Internal
industry documents show that by the late 1980s, fossil
fuel companies intentionally developed and participated
in a concerted campaign to sow confusion about the
science of climate change. Evidence suggests that such
efforts continue today. Unfortunately, since 1988,
industrial carbon emissions have doubled, significantly
increasing both costs and risks to life, health, and
property.
Holding fossil fuel companies accountable for their
deceptive practices, just as the tobacco industry was held
to account for decades of lies, is now being considered
in several states. For example, California’s Attorney
General is reportedly investigating whether ExxonMobil
lied about the risks of climate change to the public and
shareholders in violation of state laws. State law
provides a broad right of action to challenge “unfair”
business practices.
Generally, the law establishes a statute of limitations of
four years, though case law indicates that if the
legislature finds sufficient cause, it has the ability to
retroactively extend the statute of limitations. Given the
environmental, health, and economic impacts that
Californians are already paying for as a result of the
fossil fuel industry’s many years of public deception and
their efforts to block action on climate change, it is
important to hold the industry responsible. Keeping the
statute limited to only four years undermines the state’s
ability to hold fossil fuel companies responsible for their
practices that extend back well beyond four years, as
well as the damages and risks that Californians and
everyone else must face for centuries to come.

SB 1161 FACT SHEET
VERSION: AS AMENDED MARCH 28, 2016

 SB 1161 – Climate Science
Truth & Accountability Act
SENATOR BEN ALLEN
SOLUTION
SB 1161 will extend the statute of limitations under the
state’s Unfair Competition Law from 4 to 30 years for
deceptive behavior relating to scientific evidence of
climate change. This would enable the California
Attorney General, a district attorney, or a city attorney of
a city having a population of more than 750,000, to bring
legal action against a business that has committed
“unlawful, unfair or fraudulent business act[s] or
practice[s] and unfair, deceptive, untrue or misleading
advertising,” as it related to climate change, over the last
30 years.

SUPPORT
Union of Concerned Scientists (Sponsor)

CONTACT
Tina Andolina
Office of Senator Ben Allen
(916) 651-4026, (916) 651-4926 (Fax)
tina.andolina@sen.ca.gov
Jason Barbose
Union of Concerned Scientists
(510) 809-1577
jbarbose@ucsusa.org

OFFICE OF SENATOR BEN ALLEN

SB 1161 FACT SHEET
VERSION: AS AMENDED MARCH 28, 2016