Latest news with #Addis
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Who will be the next ‘American Idol'?
Near the end of a season that has included trips to Hawaii and Disneyland, and guest mentors like Josh Groban, James Taylor and Lin-Manuel Miranda, "American Idol' is now down to its final three singers. On Sunday night, 'Idol' will declare the winner of its 23rd season. Here's what to expect from the season finale — and who is predicted to win. The following three contestants are still in the 'American Idol' competition and will perform in Sunday night's finale: John Foster John Foster, an 18-year-old college student from Addis, Louisiana, warmed himself up to the 'American Idol' judges with some Cajun food that he brought along for his audition. He made his 'American Idol' debut with Alan Jackson's 'Don't Rock the Jukebox' — a performance that brought back some memories for 'Idol' judge Carrie Underwood, who was 11 years old when she saw the country superstar — her first concert — back in 1994. But Underwood wasn't completely satisfied with Foster's performance, stating that she wanted to hear him sing a song that could showcase his vocals more. Foster was prepared for that request and performed the Conway Twitty ballad 'Goodbye Time' — a rendition that had Luke Bryan singing along (loudly). 'I got the information that I wanted out of that,' Underwood said following the performance. While 'Idol' judge Lionel Richie enjoyed the performance, he told Foster that he wanted to hear more of his own stylings. 'I love the timbre, but you gotta carve your way out now as far as making your sound,' Richie said. Bryan agreed with Richie, and said while Foster had a nice voice he wasn't sure if it would be enough to advance through several rounds of the competition. But his performance of the Twitty classic was enough to convince Bryan, who was initially on the fence, to give him a 'yes' and send him to the next round. Now, Foster has made it all the way to the season finale and could be the next 'American Idol' winner. Performances throughout his run on 'Idol' have included his original song 'Tell That Angel I Love Her'; Brooks & Dunn's 'Believe" and 'Neon Moon'; and Elvis Presley's 'Jailhouse Rock.' Breanna Nix Breanna Nix, a 25-year-old stay-at home-mom from Denton, Texas, made the bold decision to audition for 'American Idol' with Underwood's No. 1 hit 'Jesus, Take the Wheel.' As Nix sang the song, her son, Emerson, sat on Underwood's lap just a few feet away. By the end of Nix's performance, Underwood was visibly emotional and had to defer to Bryan to kick off the feedback. 'You're singing Carrie Underwood while she's handling your child,' Bryan told Nix. 'A lot of emotions going on, and you did a great job with that.' 'It's just a dream cone true,' Nix said. 'She's inspired me so much, and so it's an honor to sing your song.' 'It was an honor to listen to you sing that song,' Underwood responded. 'You have a beautiful voice, a big voice. Obviously willing to work hard for this. It's not easy being a stay-at-home mom, it's not easy deciding that you want to make your family a priority. You did a really great job.' It wasn't the only time Underwood would be emotional following a performance from Nix. Ahead of the 'American Idol' top 24 reveal, the country star got emotional following a duet of Brandon Lake's 'Gratitude' that Nix performed with fellow contestant Rylie O'Neill. 'I know how difficult it is to come into the entertainment industry and bring your faith with you. It is a brave thing to do because there are a lot of outside forces that are going to tell you not to do that,' Underwood said as Richie placed his hand on her back for support, per the Deseret News. 'I want to tell you that I'm proud of you guys.' Throughout Nix's run on 'Idol,' performances on the show have included Martina McBride's 'Independence Day'; 'You'll Be In My Heart' from the Disney film 'Tarzan'; Journey's 'Open Arms'; and Lauren Daigle's 'Still Rolling Stones.' Jamal Roberts Jamal Roberts isn't a stranger to the 'American Idol' audition process. This season actually marked his third attempt at making it on the show, Billboard reported. Now, the 27-year-old P.E. teacher from Meridian, Mississippi, has made it to the Season 23 finale as a top three contestant. 'I didn't get defeated. I never gave up. I took the no,' Roberts told Billboard. 'I've always been able to take constructive criticism and use it for my gain and try again. This has always been me.' This time around, Roberts auditioned for 'Idol' with Rick James' 'Mary Jane' — a performance that had all three judges smiling. 'Man, you got some stuff in there,' Richie said. 'And by the end, you were letting it come out. ... You've got the voice, and you know how to tell a story — priceless." Bryan praised the 'southern soulfulness' of the performance. 'Was it perfect? Was it flawless? No. But you're not trying to sing it perfectly and flawless. You're just singing it from the heart, and that's what I felt,' he said. Throughout Roberts' run on 'Idol,' performances have included the Disney classic 'Beauty and the Beast'; Sam Cooke's 'A Change Is Gonna Come'; Fantasia's 'I Believe'; the country-soul classic 'Tennessee Whiskey'; and Jelly Roll's 'Liar.' The race to the 'American Idol' finish line is close — maybe more than it has been for many seasons, according to the show. 'I just love a dynamic finale that keeps everyone guessing who's going to win,' 'Idol' showrunner Megan Michaels Wolflick recently told TVLine. 'In the case of other seasons, there might be more of a clear frontrunner, but not this time. It's anyone's game, and that to me is a win at the end of a season.' Based on 'American Idol' social media posts featuring the contestants' performances — dating back to the top 10 round — Foster and Roberts both have substantially more engagement and views than Nix, potentially indicating that victory is leaning toward one of those two contestants. TVLine noted that throughout the season, as it has conducted polls with its readership, the results have always been close. But Foster, the outlet reported, has consistently held the top spot. Similarly, the entertainment sites Parade and Gold Derby both also predict that Foster will be the 'American Idol' Season 23 winner. The 'American Idol' Season 23 finale airs Sunday, May 18, at 6 p.m. MDT. The live, three-hour episode will feature special performances from the season's top 14 contestants and from a wide variety of guest artists — including Groban, Salt-N-Pepa, Patti LaBelle, PJ Morton, Kirk Franklin, Jessica Simpson, Goo Goo Dolls and Good Charlotte, as the Deseret News reported. Performances include a duet from LaBelle with 'Idol' Season 23 contestant Kolbi Jordan, and a duet featuring The War and Treaty and 'Idol' top five singer Thunderstorm Artis. Viewers can vote for their favorite top three singer during the Season 23 finale. Voting begins at the start of Sunday night's episode — 6 p.m. MDT — and will end shortly before the three-hour episode comes to an end. 'American Idol' host Ryan Seacrest will reveal the winner at the end of the episode. There are three ways to vote on 'American Idol': Vote online at (fans must create an account to vote). Vote via the 'American Idol' app, which can be downloaded through the App Store or Google Play Store. Vote via text. During each 'Idol' episode, a contestant will have a specific number that can be texted to '21523.' Viewers can submit up to 10 votes per voting method per contestant, according to
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill to fund transitional kindergarten in SLO County clears first hurdle
This story is part of SLO Tribune's Parents Central, our expanding coverage for local parents. We're tackling issues that matter to you the most, explaining the "what it means," from school budgets to children's health. We also want to have fun: Send us your best tips for local parents and things to do. Email tips@ A bill that would fully fund transitional kindergarten in the San Luis Coastal Unified School District has cleared its first legislative hurdle, Assemblymember Dawn Addis reported Friday at a news conference at Pacheco Elementary School. Introduced by Addis, the bill is good news for local parents as it aims to provide transitional kindergarten funding to basic-aid school districts. State law requires districts to offer transitional kindergarten to all 4-year-olds — but for basic-aid districts, like San Luis Coastal, that requirement adds an extra financial burden. That's because these districts receive funding through local property taxes rather than the state's funding formula — and as the law sits now, they don't receive extra money for transitional kindergarten. That lack of funding caused a stir at San Luis Coastal in January, when administrators suggested cutting the transitional kindergarten program to help manage the district's $6 million budget deficit. Parents and teachers showed up in droves to protest the cut, ultimately leading the district to keep the program — but district Superintendent Eric Prater said in a statement at the time that the district would work to seek state funding to help secure the future of transitional kindergarten in the district. And that's what Addis' bill is hoping to accomplish. During Friday's news conference, Addis said that her proposed legislation 'fixes the gap by providing state funding for TK to all districts, ensuring equity and honoring the Legislature's original commitment.' She added that the bill has garnered support from lawmakers. 'I'm very proud to announce today that AB 1391 has passed its first hurdle with bipartisan support from a supermajority of the education committee and no 'no' votes,' Addis said, receiving applause from the audience. Addis' bill advanced out of the committee on Wednesday on an 8-0 vote and was re-referred to the committee on appropriations, according to the legislative website. Pacheco Elementary transitional kindergarten teacher Monica Garcia testified before lawmakers in support of the bill, Addis said, and Hawthorne Elementary transitional kindergarten teacher Fiona Lloyd-Moffett delivered letters from her students about the value of the program. Addis also thanked the parents, teachers and community members who have advocated for transitional kindergarten in SLO County. 'It's a special moment, because we are in a time in our country that is showing historic levels of division, and here in San Luis Obispo County on the Central Coast, we've built a coalition that crosses political divides, brings regular people, government, management and labor all together to work on behalf of our children,' Addis said. Addis added that she's 'committed to the long haul' to get the bill onto Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk. Both Garcia and Lloyd-Moffett were also at Friday's conference to speak to the value of transitional kindergarten. 'As TK teachers, we have the joy and privilege every day to see how transitional kindergarten transforms lives. It doesn't just prepare children for school. It shapes who they are and who they will become,' said Lloyd-Moffett. 'TK nurtures the whole child, helping them grow socially, emotionally and academically.' Garcia continued that message, saying many families in San Luis Coastal rely on transitional kindergarten. 'Transitional kindergarten is not just an option. It is their only access to high-quality learning, and TK provides that stability, that care and that opportunity at a crucial stage of development,' said Garcia. 'TK gives our parents peace of mind, knowing that their children are safe, supported and thriving in a nurturing, engaging environment. TK helps ensure that every 4-year-old, regardless of their life circumstance, gets a strong and fair start during these essential early years.' San Luis Coastal parent Gina Lopez also spoke at the news conference, saying transitional kindergarten has been transformative for her daughter. 'She has become more confident in expressing herself, more thoughtful in how she connects with others and incredibly eager to learn,' Lopez said. Meanwhile, her other child didn't have the opportunity to go to transitional kindergarten, she said. 'While he's doing well now, I truly believe the early challenges that he faced — reading and writing — could have been lessened with the strong foundation TK provides,' she said. Lopez added: 'Transitional kindergarten is not just an early start. It's the strong start that every child deserves.' Superintendent Prater, board member Ellen Sheffer and San Luis Coastal Teachers Association representative and district kindergarten teacher Ingrid Frojker also spoke at the event in support of the proposed legislation.
The Intercept
28-04-2025
- Politics
- The Intercept
Dems Push for 'Educational Gag Order' Over Palestine Lessons in California
For years, California Democrats have defended their landmark program to put ethnic studies classes in high schools across the state. In the face of national right-wing media attacks and local critics, the state's governing supermajority passed a law in 2021 making ethnic studies a graduation requirement, which supports school boards to develop their own curricula for the courses. But one particular area of study threatens to unravel the Democratic consensus: Palestine. In the past year, state lawmakers have teamed up with community groups and the lobbying coalition Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California, or JPAC, in a push to regulate the ethnic studies program. They're aiming to pass a law that curbs local school board control over ethnic studies curricula in response to classwork focusing on the history of Israel and Palestine that they say has promoted unprecedented bigotry against Jewish students. The bill's backers are framing the effort as a way to ensure that ethnic studies 'will combat all forms of hate,' as one of the bill's authors, Assemblymember Dawn Addis, wrote in a March 30 op-ed. 'At a time when the federal government is trying to rewrite American history by banning diversity initiatives, California must persist in elevating the lived experiences of everyone in this country,' wrote Addis, whose office did not respond to inquiries from The Intercept. But as right-wing groups oppose the bill and ethnic studies more broadly, a coalition of critics warn that the new controls could lead to the same type of state censorship in schools that has been put into law in conservative states like Texas and Florida. 'This language goes far beyond supporting culturally-responsive education in a general sense, and echoes educational gag order legislation we've seen in other states nationwide,' said PEN America spokesperson Suzanne Trimel in a statement. 'This could result in state officials forcing a school or educator to pull certain materials they believe aren't 'fair' or don't provide enough variety of perspective, concepts that are difficult to define.' Assembly Bill 1468 introduced in February, would create new state standards for the ethnic studies classes that California schools must offer by the beginning of this coming school year. The discipline has its roots in California's college student strikes of the 1960s and was codified into state education law after years of deliberation in 2021. In that legislative process, teachers and scholars advocating for a more explicitly anti-imperialist approach in line with its radical origins lost out: Lessons on Palestine were excised from the law before it passed, and the left wing of the ethnic studies movement was sidelined from the process. But still, the law required schools to begin offering an ethnic studies course by the fall of 2025, and schools teaching the course had the choice to develop curricula on their own, working with consultants and local communities or drawing upon guidance from the state. Under the new law, standards will be written by a panel of academic experts in a specific subset of disciplines — African American studies, Latinx/Chicanx studies, Asian American/Pacific Islander studies, and Native American studies — with additional input from representatives of communities most frequently impacted by hate crimes according to state law enforcement. The bill's author has also promised more 'traditional' scholars will be chosen by the governor. The state's current model curriculum on human rights and genocide, within the history and social science category, briefly characterizes the Nakba as an event in which 'Palestinians left Palestine.' The California Department of Education would also receive all materials approved by local districts by 2026 and post their curricula online, with an eye for avoiding 'abstract ideological theories' and focusing on the 'domestic experience.' On a call in March, the bill's backers gathered on a webinar to discuss the game plan. State Sen. Josh Becker, a Silicon Valley Democrat co-authoring the bill, said the bill 'doesn't ban anything.' He told the audience that his 12th-grade son received a presentation in an ethnic studies class that had a puppeteer's hand holding strings and said, 'Israel is a country created on Palestinian land. The United Nations says this is illegal.' 'We all knew the U.N. created Israel, and there was no Palestine before that, and Gaza was controlled by Egypt,' Becker said, in remarks that were cut from the final video posted on Youtube. 'And we all know the history, this was not that.' Becker's office did not respond to requests for comment, but he later posted on social media on the comments: 'I don't mean and haven't meant to say or imply anything minimizing the Palestinian connection to the land.' David Bocarsly, executive director of JPAC, explained to hundreds of listeners why he saw a new state law as a necessary step. 'District-by-district outreach became a game of whack-a-mole, and we knew that we needed a statewide solution,' he said. Part of PEN America's criticism is that A.B. 1468's compliance provisions take a 'one-size-fits all approach to education' that 'could amount to educational intimidation.' But a large segment of California's Democratic establishment is lining up behind this bill. Thirty-one state Democrats, including all but one member of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, have already signed on as co-authors of the bill. The state superintendent of public instruction, Tony Thurmond, who plans to run for governor in 2026, has endorsed an earlier version of the bill that was held by the author in an August committee hearing. And his office recently investigated a San Jose ethnic studies teacher, finding that they violated Jewish students' rights by failing to intervene with another perspective during a student project on genocide with a slide titled 'Genocide of Palestinians.' (The investigation notes no students complained, and the district told The Intercept it will be responding to the state's findings.) Two candidates running to replace Thurmond in 2026 have also indicated support for JPAC's efforts on ethnic studies. One of them, Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, chairs the committee where the bill will face its first hearing. His office did not respond to questions from The Intercept. The current movement to clamp down on teaching Palestine in ethnic studies curriculum coalesced around a story out of Orange County. The Santa Ana Unified School District, adjacent to one of the nation's largest Arab American communities, approved two world history ethnic studies courses in April 2023 that briefly taught about Israel and Palestine, including content about the Nakba and settlements. After pro-Israel organizations objected, the district's superintendent vowed not to remove any group's narrative in May 2023. But in September of that year, an Anti-Defamation League-backed coalition sued on procedural grounds. During the messy litigation, lawyers pressed district staff and board members for their thoughts on Zionism and Hamas, and in August 2024, they uncovered text messages indicating senior district officials sought to avoid scrutiny by passing courses on a Jewish holiday. Two congressional Republicans subsequently called for the district to undergo a federal investigation. District leaders, meanwhile, responded by shelving the contested courses as part of a February 2025 settlement, inviting the litigants to provide input to the course process while denying claims of discrimination. The agreement also promises not to include several references to the oppression of Palestinians from a book about ethnic cleansing by a British sociologist. A few days after the Santa Ana settlement, A.B. 1468 was introduced in the California legislature, and JPAC published five examples of what it called 'examples of antisemitism and harmful rhetoric' in ethnic studies classrooms. But JPAC didn't provide any sources for their claims, and in some situations it's unclear exactly to which materials they are referring. Bocarsly, the executive director of JPAC, did not respond to requests for comment or more information on the list. JPAC included the Fort Bragg Unified School District on the list for its lesson with a map of Palestinian dispossession and land loss. Superintendent Joseph Aldridge said that he first learned of JPAC's allegation from The Intercept and is now removing the lesson from the unit, which has not yet been taught and also includes a lesson on Middle Eastern Jewish communities. Aldridge said that he wished that JPAC had gotten in touch to discuss the issue before putting the district on the list. 'I was a little disappointed to see our district's name out there without at least some chance to have a conversation about it,' he said. A spokesperson for another district on the JPAC list, San Francisco Unified, responded 'we are looking into this,' when contacted by The Intercept. Following up, its spokesperson later said that the district was in alignment with state law. Maria Su, the district's superintendent, did not respond to inquiries. Janet Schulze, the superintendent of Pittsburg Unified School District, told The Intercept she was 'very surprised and puzzled' to see JPAC's claim that the district used a biased definition of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement in its course, and said that they had been working with the curriculum consulting firm Community Responsive Education for years. 'We have not received any negative feedback or reports of anti-semitism from our community regarding this course or any of the other courses we have that meet the Ethnic Studies requirement,' she said in a statement. A representative from the national pro-Israel group StandWithUS, a member of JPAC's coalition, did however criticize the contract with Community Responsive Education in a 2024 school board meeting. The push to clamp down on ethnic studies curricula picked up political momentum in the wake of the October 7 attacks in Israel and the subsequent anti-war movement in the U.S., but one of the bill's authors has made it clear that the fight stretches back to the late 2010s. Los Angeles Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur has called opponents to A.B. 1468 advocates who have been 'peddling' radical curricula to school districts. 'They have a big presence in the Cal State system, they're organized, there are liberated ethnic studies adherents within the teachers unions,' he warned listeners on the JPAC webinar in March. His office declined an interview request and did not respond to questions from The Intercept. After losing out in the legislative wrangling over the original ethnic studies bill, the spurned left wing of the expert body convened by the state Department of Education created a consulting firm in 2020 called the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium, with the goal of helping school districts interested in the more radical vision of the discipline construct their courses. The group has been in the crosshairs since, while similar firms and coalitions have popped up nationwide. A federal judge in November threw out a lawsuit alleging that LESMCC covertly spreads antisemitism and bias throughout Los Angeles and California schools, writing in his decision, 'It would be of great concern for the educational project and for academic freedom if every offended party could sue every time they did not like a curriculum or the way it was taught.' The case is being appealed. None of the districts cited by JPAC have contracts with the group, though CRE, which works with the Pittsburg district, was co-founded by Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales, an Asian American studies professor at San Francisco State University who is on the LESMCC leadership team. Theresa Montaño, an LESMCC founder and California State University, Northridge professor of Chicano/a studies, said that lawmakers 'seem to want to label' all the material they dislike as 'liberated ethnic studies.' She said that school districts and teachers choose to work with her group's teacher training or classroom materials of their own volition. What they choose to teach 'is their sentiment, and it's the sentiment of a lot of their students,' Montaño said. But she noted that her group is just a small part of a larger movement in education, and many districts arrive at curricula that some consider controversial on their own. 'When you're engaged in a movement, it's organic, it's dynamic, it's ever changing, it's created from the grassroots up,' she said. 'Nobody controls that movement, not liberated ethnic studies, not community responsive education, not any consulting group around ethnic studies.' Opposition to CRE's work in the Pajaro Valley Unified School District, which covers a majority Latino farm area south of Santa Cruz, sparked a year-and-a-half long fight over whether to renew the group's contract. That came to a close just last week, when the board voted to renew the CRE contract on the grounds that they found no antisemitism in the actual curriculum. But the ADL California and StandWithUs have continued to push back, demanding school board members apologize for statements that they say drew on antisemitic tropes, which drew an official warning from the superintendent of Santa Cruz County Schools. Other small, diverse California communities are speaking out against the new bill. Cudahy, a 96 percent Hispanic city of just 21,000 in Los Angeles County, unanimously passed an April 15 resolution saying the bill 'undermines local control.' 'This is clearly a way to manipulate the narrative of the genocide in Palestine. If we read the language of the text of the bill, it's pretty evident,' said Councilmember Daisy Lomeli at the meeting. Though some are reevaluating their courses, hundreds of California districts are moving forward with the ethnic studies program in the face of significant political pressure, and without the over $200 million in funding the state estimated was necessary for developing their classes. The bill is set to be heard on April 30 in the Assembly Education Committee in what is expected to be a lively hearing, unless lawmakers vote to extend the deadline in advance. 'Those pushing to inject harmful content into our classrooms are loud,' reads one message from JPAC to supporters. 'We need to be louder.'
BBC News
04-04-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Ludlow school pulls out of year 10 work experience scheme
A Shropshire secondary school has pulled out of a long-standing work experience scheme for year 10 Church of England School says it is becoming increasingly challenging to find employers, organise the placements and make sure pupils stay Shropshire MP Stuart Anderson has written to the school asking it to Pete Addis, from Ludlow, said his son is missing out on a valuable experience. Ludlow C.E. School has written to parents telling them that it is not running the work experience programme this year for a range of reasons. It said in recent years there have been incidents which have led to safeguarding concerns regarding Ludlow students and their location during the school school also cited the administration of the programme as another reason for its withdrawal. It said compliance and health and safety checks are a challenge. The quality of workplace experiences is the third reason. It said it is increasingly difficult to secure placements in the local area which offer a suitable, high-quality experience. Mr Addis said his son was looking forward to taking part in the work experience said: "It teaches you the responsibility of getting up for work, going to work, meeting people, building relationships... and can be a step in the right direction for maybe the career they want to do".Mr Addis, who runs a refrigeration business, said he had offered to take a work experience pupil, but got no response from the also asked the school if he could give his own son a work placement, but was told that it would be unauthorised and he surmised he would get a fine. Mr Addis contacted his MP, the Conservative member for South Shropshire, Stuart Anderson. In reply, Mr Anderson said he had written to the headteacher Mark Burton asking him to "reconsider the decision to cancel work experience for year 10 pupils". Half of all year 10 pupils in England miss out The Key Group, a school management software company, has carried out work experience research on 146,947 pupils in 756 said their analysis showed 78% of schools had work experience programmes, but only 49% of pupils had taken part in author Nicola West Jones said: "It can be really empowering for pupils at risk of being out of education, employment or training (Neet) once they leave school, especially if they come from homes where worklessness is endemic." Farm shop pauses work experience scheme Battlefield farm shop, butchery and cafe in Shrewsbury has taken many work experience pupils in the past, but said it had paused the scheme for economic and administration and director Jeremy Jagger said they were being careful as the administration of the scheme had become more onerous. "We're also keeping the staffing tighter to protect workers, but not ruling out taking pupils in the future. He said some students go on to become part-time workers which is valuable.A spokesperson for the school said: "There is no link to the removal of work experience and Mr Burton [the headteacher] leaving. The decision to not run work experience this year was made very early on."They also said that, "we intend to keep the policy under review for next year." Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Associated Press
21-02-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
FRONTLINE COMMUNITIES CO-SPONSOR NEWLY INTRODUCED 'CLIMATE SUPERFUND ACT OF 2025" TO MAKE POLLUTERS PAY FOR CLIMATE-FUELED DISASTERS
SACRAMENTO, Calif., Feb. 21, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- As Californians struggle to rebuild communities torn apart by devastating wildfires, The Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California (CSHC) today announced that it is co-sponsoring the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act of 2025 (SB 684 and AB 1243) along with the Center for Biological Diversity and California Environmental Voters. Introduced by Senator Menjivar and Assemblymember Addis, this bill addresses the financial injustices imposed on taxpayers and working families from climate-related disasters by requiring fossil fuel polluters to pay for the destruction they cause. 'For decades, Big Oil has reaped massive profits while driving the climate crisis and misleading the public. It's time for polluters to pay for the destruction they've caused,' said Darryl Molina Sarmiento, Executive Director for Communities for a Better Environment and CSHC Steering Committee Member. 'This legislation provides a critical pathway to hold these corporations accountable for the damage caused by their products.' Fueled by climate change and driven by extreme drought and record-breaking heat waves, California's wildfires are exacerbated by decades of environmental harm caused by large corporate polluters who knew exactly what their pollution would cause. Despite heroic efforts by firefighters and first responders, Southern California wildfires burned more than 10,000 structures, including homes and businesses, and have driven 180,000 residents out of their homes. This devastation alone is estimated to cost Californians at least $250 billion. The Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act identifies and assesses a fee on a small number of the world's largest fossil fuel polluters, proportional to their fossil fuel emissions since 1990. This legislation addresses a growing crisis in California, where increasingly frequent and devastating wildfires, extreme weather, and other climate-related disasters have placed an enormous financial burden on families, businesses, and the state. A recent study revealed that ExxonMobil and other oil giants were aware of the climate risks associated with fossil fuels as far back as the 1950s. Instead of acting responsibly, they funneled millions into disinformation campaigns, stalling action and ensuring continued reliance on their products. This deliberate deception has resulted in irreparable harm to California's families, infrastructure, and natural environment. The Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act will: Direct CalEPA to complete a climate cost study to quantify total damages to the state (through 2045), caused by past fossil fuel emissions. Direct CalEPA to identify responsible parties and assess compensatory fees on the largest fossil fuel polluters proportional to their fossil fuel emissions 1990 through 2024, to address damages quantified in the cost study. Fund California's future. Fees collected will fund projects and programs to mitigate disaster related rate increases for Californians and remedy or prevent climate-related costs and harms. The bill prioritizes labor and job standards and dedicates at least 40% of the funds to benefit disadvantaged communities. 'As a Steering Committee member for the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California, I am proud to stand alongside a diverse coalition of community leaders and environmental justice organizations in support of the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act,' said Martha Dina Argüello, Executive Director of Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles and CSHC Steering Committee Member. 'This bill represents a unified effort to ensure that Big Oil polluters, who have reaped billions in profits while knowingly sacrificing the health and well-being of frontline environmental justice communities and fueling the climate crisis, are held accountable for the damage they have done. Together, Physicians for Social Responsibility LA, Communities for a Better Environment, California Environmental Justice Alliance, Black Women for Wellness LA, Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment, and Asian Pacific Environmental Network Action demand justice for California communities by making polluters pay.' The state of New York also recently passed a Climate Superfund Bill that shows growing momentum nationwide to hold Big Oil accountable for decades of pollution and its devastating effects on a state and local level. These actions by states are critical as President-elect Donald Trump vows to unravel corporate accountability for the oil industry's polluting ways. California has long been a leader in climate policy, and the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act builds on this legacy. From wildfire recovery to rebuilding efforts and mitigation, this bill provides a lifeline to families and communities bearing the brunt of climate change. California's largest greenhouse gas emitters should be the ones paying for firefighting, disaster recovery, and rebuilding efforts in communities most affected by climate-driven disasters and prevention efforts to limit future tragedies. 'California needs to seize this moment - it is time for our leaders to take bold action to protect our communities and hold those responsible for the climate crisis to account,' said Mabel Tsang, Political Director for California Environmental Justice Alliance and CSHC Steering Committee Member. 'Making these polluters pay for their climate damage is the moral and economic responsibility of this generation.'
