SB1790 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB104 11448 JRC 21536 b

104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2025 and 2026
SB1790

Introduced 2/5/2025, by Sen. Laura Ellman

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

New Act

Creates the Extreme Weather Recovery Act. Creates a private cause of action for a harmed party against a responsible party in which the amount in controversy is $10,000 or more. Authorizes a harmed party who has suffered damages in that amount that is alleged to have been caused by climate disaster or extreme weather attributable to climate changes or both to sue a responsible party. The Act's covered period is from 1965 to the effective date of the Act. Prohibits the State or unit of local government or an agent or employee of these governmental units from commencing an action under the Act. Makes legislative findings. Makes definitions. Creates a 3-year statute of limitation in which a harmed party must file or commence an action under the Act. Authorizes the Illinois Emergency Management Agency to adopt rules implementing the Act. Makes other changes. Effective immediately.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning civil law.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Extreme Weather Recovery Act.

Section 5. Findings; intent; purpose.

(a) The General Assembly finds that:

(i) climate disasters, extreme weather attributable to climate change, and harms resulting from long-term changes to the climate system pose a threat to the health, safety, and security of all residents of, and visitors to, Illinois;

(ii) climate change poses many costly risks to Illinois residents, including an increase in precipitation and severe storms, hotter temperatures, and intensified drought;

(iii) average annual precipitation in Illinois has increased by 12% to 15%; and extreme precipitation events (days with more than 2 inches of precipitation) have increased by 40% since the beginning of the 20th century, resulting in more frequent flooding;

(iv) insurance companies lost money on policies associated with property insurance in Illinois in 2023, due mostly to damage from severe storms;

(v) the average temperature in Illinois is predicted to increase by up to 9°F by 2100 under a moderate climate scenario (RCP4.5); the average daily temperature has already increased by 1 to 2°F in most areas of the State; and the average nighttime temperature has increased by more than 3°F over the last 120 years;

(vi) warmer temperatures will change the composition of Illinois forests and decrease agricultural yields of corn, soybeans, and other crops;

(vii) heat stress caused by climate change is likely to reduce corn yields by 23% to 34% in Illinois by the middle of this century;

(viii) all Illinoisans are at risk of concrete and particularized injuries caused by the increasing prevalence and intensity of climate disasters, extreme weather attributable to climate change, and harms resulting from long-term changes to the climate system;

(ix) Illinois has a compelling State interest in protecting its citizens from climate disasters, extreme weather attributable to climate change, and harms resulting from long-term changes to the climate system;

(x) the cost and impact of climate disasters, extreme weather attributable to climate change, and harms resulting from long-term changes to the climate system continue to increase, straining public resources in this State; and

(xi) impacts in Illinois causally connected to responsible parties' qualified products and actions during the covered period include, but are not limited to:

(A) damage to public property and infrastructure, as well as adjacent private property and infrastructure;

(B) natural resource damages to public and private resources;

(C) increased risk, hours, and compensation to emergency responders faced with increasingly frequent and severe events;

(D) significant and costly health and safety upgrades to public buildings before generally accepted amortization and depreciation timelines, resulting in additional taxpayer expenses now and into the future;

(E) significant and costly occupational productivity losses and costs from workplace health and safety regulations that are increasingly necessary and required to protect employers and employees from increased risks and hazards related to climate change and extreme weather attributable to climate change;

(F) canceled school days because of climate disasters and extreme weather attributable to climate change, resulting in educational harms to students that have long-lasting impacts on workforce, business, and economic development; and

(G) increasing public and private health costs stemming from indoor and outdoor pollution, contamination, and exposure to toxic materials, whether in combination or occurring separately, exacerbated by the impacts of climate disasters and extreme weather attributable to climate change;

(xii) a judicial forum is necessary for Illinoisans to redress the harm that responsible parties have caused and continue to cause through climate disasters, extreme weather attributable to climate change, and harms resulting from long-term changes to the climate system fueled by their products and actions. Illinois has a compelling State interest in empowering citizens to recover, recoup, or rebuild the value of lost, damaged, and destroyed property, as well as the full extent of non-economic, compensatory, and punitive damages allowable under this State's laws and constitution;

(xiii) the courts of this State are the appropriate venue to provide additional relief to harmed parties as deemed necessary or proper in the course of legal proceedings brought under the authority of this Act;

(xiv) this State has a compelling interest in preserving public resources for traditional public purposes. It is not the desire of this State to continue paying for increased damages to harmed parties caused by the profit-seeking actions and omissions of responsible parties' qualified products and actions;

(xv) climate disasters, extreme weather attributable to climate change, and harms resulting from long-term changes to the climate system are not acts of God, unforeseeable, or otherwise classified as a force majeure event eligible for litigation limitations or defenses, except as explicitly and unambiguously provided;

(xvi) decades of intentional lies, misinformation, and disinformation, and misrepresentations by responsible parties about the connection between qualified products and climate change has directly and causally contributed to concrete and particularized injuries in this State from climate disasters, extreme weather attributable to climate change, and harms resulting from long-term changes to the climate system. Continued lies, misinformation, and disinformation, and misrepresentations pose a threat to the health, safety, and security of all residents of, and visitors to, this State. Responsible parties have long-known the dangers of their qualified products but continued to deny and lie for profit. Hiding, obfuscating, and denying information to consumers, elected officials, and regulators alike harmed and continues to harm Illinoisans. This State has a compelling interest in protecting consumers from lies, misinformation, and disinformation in the marketplace, and encouraging factual and truthful information on climate disasters, extreme weather attributable to climate change, harms resulting from long-term changes to the climate system, and the qualified products and actions of responsible parties. The General Assembly further finds and declares that:

(A) responsible parties have engaged in a decades-long project to protect their profits with a coordinated effort to deceive the public about the reality of the climate crisis;

(B) documents unveiled by litigation and investigative journalists demonstrate that as early as the 1950s, responsible parties became aware of the potentially catastrophic impact of their products. Even in the face of research conducted by their own scientists affirming the impacts of their business, responsible parties outright denied that climate change was real, spread disinformation to cast doubt on the science, and fought regulatory action against qualified products;

(C) the 1970s and 1980s saw the development of a clear scientific consensus that increasing CO₂

concentration in the atmosphere would contribute to global warming and that the heightened CO₂ emissions were attributable to fossil fuels. These facts were supported by fossil-fuel industry scientists like Exxon's James F. Black, who provided these findings in a 1977 presentation and a 1978 briefing of Exxon management. In 1979, W.L. Ferrall outlined that an internal Exxon study concluded that the "present trend of fossil-fuel consumption will cause dramatic environmental effects before the year 2050." In 1982, R.W. Cohen summarized that Exxon's climate modeling research was "consistent with the published prediction of more complex climate models" and "in accord with the scientific consensus on the effect of increased atmospheric CO₂ on climate." A 1988 Shell report echoed the Exxon warnings and acknowledged the need to consider policy changes. The report provided that "the potential implications for the world are... so large that policy options need to be considered much earlier" and that research should be "directed more to the analysis of policy and energy options than to studies of what we will be facing exactly";

(D) despite acknowledging that increased CO₂

concentrations because of fossil-fuel combustion posed a considerable threat, responsible parties decided not to take steps to prevent the risks of climate change. Instead, they stopped funding major climate research, and launched campaigns to discredit climate science and delay actions perceived as contrary to their business interests. These responsible parties carried out these campaigns by:

(1) developing public relations strategies that were contradictory to their knowledge and scientific insights;

(2) engaging in public communications campaigns to promote doubt and downplay the threats of climate change; and

(3) funding individuals, organizations, and research aimed at discrediting the growing body of publicly available climate science.

(E) from 1970 to 2020 the oil and gas industry responsible parties made nearly $2.8 billion a day and $1 trillion a year in profit;

(F) responsible parties currently advertise "green" efforts to the public that mask the lack of real investment in resiliency and energy-source transition and the continued prioritization of the extraction, refinement, and distribution of qualified products;

(G) a December 2022 report by the Oversight Committee in Congress also revealed internal documents from senior leaders in responsible parties that explicitly reject taking accountability for the greenhouse gas emissions associated with their products;

(H) by their conduct and impact, responsible parties have intentionally obfuscated the truth about climate change and outright deceived the public to continue dependence on their qualified products;

(xvii) intentional lies, misinformation, and disinformation, and misrepresentations by responsible parties about the connection between qualified products they sell or sold and climate change is not political speech, but fundamentally commercial activity with incidental political impact; and

(xviii) that responsible parties must be accountable to harmed parties. The General Assembly hereby explicitly authorizes a cause of action to harmed parties, including individuals, businesses, and associations. This State has a sovereign and compelling State interest in providing a forum for individuals, businesses, and associations sustaining injuries and harms caused by responsible parties' deceptive behavior and linked to the harms of responsible parties' products and actions. It is the intent of this State to provide a judicial forum for the efficient, just, and equitable resolution of harmed parties' claims for damages stemming from climate disasters, extreme weather attributable to climate change, and harms resulting from long-term changes to the climate system, as defined herein, against responsible parties.

(b) It is the purpose of this Act to create a new cause of action independent of existing law. Nothing in this Act may be construed to limit in any way the enforceability of existing laws concerning consumer protection, climate, environment, energy, or natural resources.

Section 10. Definitions. As used in this Act:

(a) "Amount in controversy" means the damages claimed or relief demanded by the injured party or parties in a lawsuit.

(b) "Extreme event attribution science" means research aimed at understanding how human-induced changes in the global climate system affect the probability, severity, and other characteristics of extreme weather events such as hurricanes and heat waves. This may include, but not be limited to, determining the likelihood of the particular event happening today compared to how it might have unfolded without human-caused increase in concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

(c) "Climate disaster" means an event that meets any of the following threshold qualifications and is determined by impact attribution science or extreme event attribution science to be substantially worsened (at least statistically significant) or caused by climate change from responsible parties' products or extreme weather attributable to climate change from responsible parties' products:

(i) a "major disaster" as defined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in July of 2024, without recognition of any changes to that definition that may occur at a later time by subsequent agency administration, or removal of the definition from the public domain or Code of Federal Regulations;

(ii) "any natural catastrophe" (including any hurricane, tornado, storm, high water, wind-driven water, tidal wave, tsunami, earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslide, mudslide, snowstorm, or drought), or, regardless of cause, any fire, flood, or explosion, in any part of the United States, which in the determination of the President causes damage of sufficient severity and magnitude to warrant major disaster assistance under this Act to supplement the efforts and available resources of states, local governments, and disaster relief organizations in alleviating the damage, loss, hardship, or suffering caused thereby. This includes, but is not limited to, the definition of a natural catastrophe in the Stafford Act such as any hurricane, tornado, storm, high water, wind-driven water, tidal wave, tsunami, earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslide, mudslide, snowstorm, or drought or, regardless of cause, any fire, flood or explosion, in any part of the United States, which in the determination of the President causes damage of sufficient severity and magnitude to warrant major disaster assistance under this the Stafford Act to supplement the efforts and available resources of local and state governments and disaster relief organizations in alleviating the damage, loss, hardship or suffering caused thereby;

(iii) a "catastrophic incident" as defined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in July of 2024 (not including events linked to terrorism), without recognition of any changes to that definition that may occur at a later time by a later agency administration or removal of the definition from the public domain or Code of Federal Regulations;

(iv) any natural or man-made incident that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the population, infrastructure, environment, economy, national morale, or government functions. A catastrophic event could result in sustained national impacts over a prolonged period of time; almost immediately exceeds resources normally available to local, state, tribal, and private sector authorities in the impacted area; and significantly interrupts governmental operations and emergency services to such an extent that national security could be threatened;

(v) any event that does qualify, or would have qualified, for inclusion on the National Centers for Environmental Information's "Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters" program and data list as it existed in July of 2024, without recognition of any changes weakening the agency program that may occur at a later time by subsequent agency administration or abolition of the program, National Centers for Environmental Information, or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and

(vi) a gubernatorial proclamation that a disaster exists under the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act.

(d) "Covered period" means the period from January 1, 1965 to the effective date of this Act.

(e) "Extreme weather attributable to climate change" means weather, climate, or environmental conditions including, but not limited to, temperature, precipitation, drought, or flooding that are consistent with impacts or events that are attributable to climate change and where the intensity, magnitude, location, timing, or extent of the event lie outside the historical distribution of measurements for that type of event or impact for a particular place and time of year. These events include those that "extreme event attribution science" determines were made more likely or severe by climate change.

(f) "Generally accepted amortization and depreciation timelines" means methods used and encouraged by the Internal Revenue Service and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.

(g) "Gross negligence" means negligence that is materially greater than the mere absence of reasonable care under the circumstances and that is characterized by indifference to or reckless disregard of the rights of others.

(h) "Harmed parties" means any person, business, or association harmed or suffering damages in the amount of at least $10,000 as a result of a climate disaster or extreme weather attributable to climate change.

(i) "Impact attribution science" means research aimed at understanding how global climate change affects human and natural systems, including but not limited to localized physical impacts, such as floods, droughts, and sea level rise, and the corresponding effects on infrastructure, public health, ecosystems, agriculture, and economies.

(j) "Long-term changes to the climate system" includes, but is not limited to: increases in average temperature; disruptions to ocean chemistry, circulation, and temperature; sea level rise; variation in precipitation; saltwater intrusion into drinking water; sunny day flooding; decreased snowpack and seasonal water availability; drought; and species mortality and extinction.

(k) "Market-share liability" means liability that is imposed severally on each member of an industry, based on each member's share of the market or respective percentage of the qualified product placed on the market.

(l) "Qualified product" means a fossil-fuel product including, but not limited to:

(i) Crude petroleum oil and all other hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, that are produced at the wellhead in liquid form by ordinary production methods;

(ii) Natural, manufactured, mixed, and byproduct hydrocarbon gas; or

(iii) Refined crude oil, crude tops, topped crude, processed crude, processed crude petroleum, residue from crude petroleum, cracking stock, uncracked fuel oil, fuel oil, treated crude oil, residuum, gas oil, casinghead gasoline, natural-gas gasoline, kerosene, benzine, wash oil, waste oil, blended gasoline, lubricating oil, and blends or mixtures of oil with one or more liquid products or byproducts derived from oil or gas.

(m) "Responsible party" means a firm, corporation, company, partnership, society, joint stock company or any other entity or association that emitted or caused to be emitted through the extracting, storing, transporting, refining, importing, exporting, producing, manufacturing, distributing, compounding, marketing, or offering for wholesale or retail sale, a qualified product with total greenhouse gas emissions of at least one billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent during the covered period. It does not include any public utility, public authority, or the State and its political subdivisions.

(n) "Statute of limitation" means that an action under this Act must be commended within 3 years after the cause of action accrued.

(o) "Strict liability" means liability that does not depend on actual negligence or intent to harm, but that is based on the breach of an absolute duty to make something safe.

Section 15. Civil action enforcement.

(a) Notwithstanding any other law, the requirements of this Act shall be enforced exclusively through the civil actions described in this Act.

(b) Any person, other than an officer or employee of a State or local governmental entity in this State, may bring a civil action against any responsible party for climate disasters or extreme weather attributable to climate change or both as defined in this Act when the following conditions are met:

(i) The person qualifies as a harmed party.

(ii) During any part of the covered period, the responsible party did business in Illinois, was registered to do business in Illinois, was appointed an agent of the State, or otherwise had sufficient contacts with the State to give the State jurisdiction over the responsible party under Illinois law.

(iii) The statute of limitations for the action has not expired.

(iv) The amount in controversy is at least $10,000. Plaintiff allegations of the amount in controversy at the pleading stage must be given judicial deference. Multiple plaintiffs (regardless of association in a class action) must be allowed to aggregate claims without common injury caused by climate disasters or extreme weather attributable to climate change to reach the amount in controversy threshold. The courts of this State are encouraged to process these actions with simplified procedural rules, streamlined enforcements, and other remedied mechanisms.

(c) No enforcement of this Act may be taken or threatened by the State, a political subdivision of the State, or an executive or administrative officer or employee of the State or a political subdivision, or a unit of local government or an attorney representing any one of these governmental entities.

(d) Responsible parties are jointly and severally liable to the plaintiffs for strict liability if they are a harmed party.

(e) Harmed parties may commence an action against responsible parties for recovery of damages in any one of the following counties:

(i) the county in which all or a substantial part of the events giving rise to the action occurred;

(ii) the county of residence for any one of the natural person defendants at the time the cause of action accrued;

(iii) the county of the principal office in this State of any one of the defendants that is not a natural person; or

(iv) the county of residence for any plaintiff if the plaintiff is a natural person residing in the State.

Notwithstanding any other law, if a civil action is brought under this Act in one of the venues in this Section16, the action may not be transferred to a different venue, including federal court, without the written consent of all parties.

(g) The fact that harmed parties bring legal action against responsible parties under this Act may not be an independent basis for enforcement of any other law of this State; or the denial, revocation, suspension, or withholding of any right or privilege conferred by the law of the State or a political subdivision of the State, or a threat to do the same.

(h) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to do any of the following:

(i) Limit the enforceability of any other laws that regulate or prohibit any conduct relating to climate disasters, extreme weather, greenhouse gas emissions, or consumer protection.

(ii) Replace legally mandated disaster recovery funds, designated disaster recovery funds established by legislation or administrative rule, contractually obligated, or court-ordered insurance claim payouts.

(i) If a claimant prevails in an action brought under this Section, the court shall award all of the following:

(i) The full extent of non-economic, compensatory, and punitive damages allowable under Illinois law and Constitution.

(ii) Compensatory damages in an amount of not less than the fair market value of recovering, recouping, rebuilding, or remediating the value of lost, damaged, and destroyed property.

(iii) Compensatory damages in an amount not less than the cost of injuries to harmed parties including medical care, mental and behavioral health care, past and present pain and suffering, or emotional distress.

(j) Notwithstanding any other law, a cause of action under this Section shall be extinguished unless the action is commenced no later than 3 years after the cause of action accrues.

(k) The connection of a climate disaster, extreme weather attributable to climate change, or harms resulting from long-term changes to the climate system to alleged injuries shall be deemed an injury in fact for all residents of, and visitors to, Illinois. Any such person shall have standing to bring a civil action under this Act.

(l) Notwithstanding any other law, none of the following is a defense to an action brought under this Act:

(i) A defendant's ignorance or mistake of law.

(ii) A defendant's belief that the requirements of this Act are unconstitutional or were unconstitutional.

(iii) A defendant's reliance on any court decision that has been overruled on appeal or by a subsequent court, even if that court decision had not been overruled when the defendant engaged in conduct that violates this Act.

(iv) A defendant's reliance on any State or federal court decision that is not binding on the court in which the action has been brought.

(v) Nonmutual issue preclusion or nonmutual claim preclusion.

(vi) Any claim that the enforcement of this Act or the imposition of civil liability against the defendant will violate a constitutional right of a third party.

(vii) A defendant's assertion that this Act proscribes conduct that is separately prohibited by any other law of Illinois.

(viii) Any claim that defendants' or responsible parties' qualified products were not misused, or were not intended to be misused, in an unlawful manner.

(ix) A defendant's assertion that State or federal laws relating to qualified products and responsible parties' operations displace, abrogate, or supersede the actions authorized under this Act, the authority of the courts of Illinois to provide a forum for the action, or the authority of the courts of Illinois to provide a remedy to harmed parties.

(x) A defendant's assertion that choice-of-law and choice-of-forum clauses govern the action, regardless of whether such clauses apply to harmed parties by basis of consumer transactions.

(xi) A defendant's assertion that the plaintiff or plaintiffs assumed a risk of harm through the use of their products.

(xii) A defendant's forum non conveniens assertion so long as the jurisdictional requirements of this Act are satisfied.

(m) An action brought under this Section may be resolved by settlement through mediation or arbitration upon written consent of both parties; however, mediation or arbitration may not be mandated by Illinois courts.

(n) This Act shall not be construed to impose liability on any speech or conduct protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, as made applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, or by the Illinois Constitution.

(o) Notwithstanding any other law, the State, a State official or a unit of local government or an attorney representing any one of these governmental entities may not intervene in an action brought under this Section. However, this subsection does not prohibit a person described by this subsection from filing an amicus curiae brief in the action.

(p) Notwithstanding any other law, a court may not award attorney's fees or costs to a defendant in an action brought under this Section, unless the plaintiff was represented by counsel in the action and plaintiff's counsel is found by the court or the entity enforcing the rules of professional conduct of attorney to be in violation of the rules of professional conduct.

(q) An action under this Section may not be brought against the federal government, State, or political subdivision of the State, or an employee of one of those governmental units on the basis of acts or omissions in the course of discharge of official duties.

Section 20. Offsets to damages and defenses to liability.

(a) All of the following are offsets to damages:

(i) Payments made to a harmed party under a contract of insurance. Insurers have the right to commence a subrogation action against responsible parties for recovery of payments made to harmed parties under a contract of insurance regardless of whether the insured has been made whole.

(ii) Evidence that a harmed party fully recovered from a public body for alleged injuries.

(b) All of the following are affirmative defenses to an action commenced under this Act:

(i) Evidence of intentional destruction of property or intentional worsening of damage to reach the amount in controversy threshold.

(ii) Evidence of gross negligence by the harmed party.

(iii) The defendant has the burden of proving an affirmative defense under this subsection by a preponderance of the evidence.

Section 25. Fee and cost shifting from challenges to enforcement.

(a) Notwithstanding any other law, any person, including an entity, attorney, or law firm, who seeks declaratory or injunctive relief to prevent this State, a political subdivision, a governmental entity or public official in this State, or a person in this State from enforcing any portion of this statute, State rules of civil procedure, or any other related law that promotes consumer protection and remedies to injuries from climate disasters, extreme weather attributable to climate change, and harms resulting from long-term changes to the climate system, or that represents any litigant seeking that relief, is jointly and severally liable to pay the attorney's fees and costs of the prevailing party.

(b) For purposes of this Section, a party is considered a prevailing party if a court does either of the following:

(i) Dismisses any claim or cause of action brought by the party seeking the declaratory or injunctive relief described by this Section, regardless of the reason for the dismissal.

(ii) Enters judgment in favor of the party opposing the declaratory or injunctive relief described by this Section on any claim or cause of action.

(c) Regardless of whether a prevailing party sought to recover attorney's fees or costs in the underlying action, a prevailing party under this Section may bring a civil action to recover attorney's fees and costs against a person, including an entity, attorney, or law firm, that sought declaratory or injunctive relief described by this Section no later than the third anniversary of the date on which, as applicable:

(i) The dismissal or judgment described by this Section becomes final upon the conclusion of appellate review.

(ii) The time for seeking appellate review expires.

(d) None of the following are a defense to an action brought under this Section:

(i) A prevailing party under this Section failed to seek recovery of attorney's fees or costs in the underlying action.

(ii) The court in the underlying action declined to recognize or enforce the requirements of this Section.

(iii) The court in the underlying action held that any provision of this Section is invalid, unconstitutional, or preempted by federal law, notwithstanding the doctrines of issue or claim preclusion.

Section 30. Limitations of the Act. This Act may not be construed to do any of the following:

(a) Authorize the commencement of an action under this Act against an entity that is not a responsible party.

(b) Authorize the commencement of an action under this Act when the amount in controversy requirements are not met.

(c) Wholly or partly repeal, either expressly or by implication, any other statute that regulates or prohibits any conduct relating to climate disasters, extreme weather attributable to climate change, and harms resulting from long-term changes to the climate system.

Section 35. Sovereign, governmental, and official immunity.

(a) Notwithstanding any other law, the State has sovereign immunity, a political subdivision of the State has governmental immunity, and each officer and employee of this State or a political subdivision has official immunity in any action, claim, or counterclaim or any type of legal or equitable action that challenges the validity of any provision or application of this Act on constitutional grounds or otherwise.

(b) A provision of State law may not be construed to waive or abrogate an immunity described by this Section unless it expressly waives immunity under this Section.

Section 40. Severability.

(a) It is the intent of the General Assembly that every provision in this Act and every application of the provisions in this Act are severable from each other.

(b) If any application of any provision in this Act is found by a court to be invalid or unconstitutional, the remaining applications of that provision to all other persons and circumstances shall be severed and shall not be affected. All constitutionally valid applications of this Act shall be severed from any applications that a court finds to be invalid, leaving the valid applications in force, because it is the General Assembly's intent that the valid applications be allowed to stand alone. Even if a reviewing court finds a provision of this Act to impose an unconstitutional burden in a large or substantial fraction of relevant cases, the applications that do not present an unconstitutional burden shall be severed from the remaining applications and shall remain in force, and shall be treated as if the General Assembly had enacted a statute limited to the persons, group of persons, or circumstances for which the statute's application does not present an unconstitutional burden.

(c) If any court declares or finds a provision of this Act facially unconstitutional, when discrete applications of that provision can be enforced against a person, group of persons, or circumstances without violating the United States Constitution and the Illinois Constitution, those applications shall be severed from all remaining applications of the provision, and the provision shall be interpreted as if the General Assembly had enacted a provision limited to the persons, group of persons, or circumstances for which the provision's application will not violate the United States Constitution and the Illinois Constitution.

(d) The General Assembly further declares that it would have enacted this Act and each provision regardless of the fact that any provision or application of this Act were to be declared unconstitutional or to represent an unconstitutional burden.

(e) If any provision of this Act is found by any court to be unconstitutionally vague, then the applications of that provision that do not present constitutional vagueness problems shall be severed and remain in force.

(f) A court may not decline to enforce the severability requirements of this Section on the ground that severance would rewrite the statute or involve the court in legislative or lawmaking activity. A court that declines to enforce or enjoins a State official from enforcing a statutory provision of this Act does not rewrite a statute, as the statute continues to contain the same words as before the court's decision.

(g) A statute that provides financial benefits to victims or survivors of climate disasters, extreme weather attributable to climate change, or harms resulting from long-term changes to the climate system or results in the collection of damages by the State for damage to consumers and State interests, may not be construed to repeal any other statute that addresses climate disasters, extreme weather attributable to climate change, and harms resulting from long-term changes to the climate system, either wholly or partly, unless the later-enacted statute explicitly states that it is repealing the other statute.

(h) Every statute that provides financial benefits to victims or survivors of climate disasters, extreme weather attributable to climate change, and harms resulting from long-term changes to the climate system or results in the collection of damages by the State for damage to consumers and State interests from climate disasters, extreme weather attributable to climate change, and harms resulting from long-term changes to the climate system, is severable in each of its applications to every person and circumstance. If any statute that provides financial benefits to victims or survivors of climate disasters, extreme weather attributable to climate change, and harms resulting from long-term changes to the climate system, or results in the collection of damages by the State for damage to consumers and State interests from climate disasters, extreme weather attributable to climate change, and harms resulting from long-term changes to the climate system, is found by any court to be unconstitutional, either on its face or as applied, then all applications of that statute that do not violate the United States Constitution and the Illinois Constitution shall be severed from the unconstitutional applications and shall remain enforceable, notwithstanding any other law, and the statute shall be interpreted as if containing language limiting the statute's application to the persons, group of persons, or circumstances for which the statute's application will not violate the United States Constitution and the Illinois Constitution.

Section 45. Savings.

(a) All existing litigation filed in State courts under the statutes of this State may not be expressly or impliedly preempted, displaced, mooted, or dismissed upon any other prudential consideration arguably arising from this Act.

(b) To the extent that any aspect of every and all existing litigation filed in the courts of this State is reviewed for the application of this Act, it is severable in each of its applications to every person and circumstance. If any statute that provides financial benefits to victims or survivors of climate disasters, extreme weather attributable to climate change, and harms resulting from long-term changes to the climate system, or results in the collection of damages by the State for damage to consumers and State interests from climate disasters, extreme weather attributable to climate change, and harms resulting from long-term changes to the climate system, is found by any court to be unconstitutional, either on its face or as applied, then all applications of that statute that do not violate the United States Constitution and the Illinois Constitution shall be severed from the unconstitutional applications and shall remain enforceable, notwithstanding any other law, and the statute shall be interpreted as if containing language limiting the statute's application to the persons, group of persons, or circumstances for which the statute's application will not violate the United States Constitution and the Illinois Constitution.

(c) The remedies provided in this Act are in addition to any other remedy available to a person or the State at common law or under statute. This Act may not be interpreted to prevent a person or the State from pursuing a civil action or any other remedy available at common law or under statute.

(d) This Act does not do any of the following:

(i) Relieve the liability of an entity for damages resulting from climate change as provided by law.

(ii) Preempt, displace, or restrict any rights or remedies of a person, the State, units of local government, or tribal government under law relating to a past, present, or future allegation of any of the following:

(A) Deception concerning the effects of fossil fuels on climate change.

(B) Damage or injury resulting from the role of fossil fuels in contributing to climate change.

(C) Failure to avoid damage or injury related to climate change, including claims for nuisance, trespass, design defect, negligence, failure to warn, or deceptive or unfair practices and claims for injunctive, declaratory, monetary, or other relief.

(e) This Act does not preempt, supersede, or displace any State law or local ordinance, regulation, policy, or program that does any of the following:

(i) Limit, set, or enforce standards for emissions of greenhouse gases.

(ii) Monitor, report, or keep records of emissions of greenhouse gases.

(iii) Collect revenue through fees or levy taxes.

(iv) Conduct or support investigations.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.