California politicians now want oil companies, not insurers, to subsidize people living in wildfire zones

California lawmakers want to sue oil companies for wildfire damages.

The bill would allow private insurers and the state-run insurance plan to sue the oil companies.

Lawmakers say it's a twist on preexisting law that allows insurers to sue utilities if there's a nexus between wildfire and utility lines.

But a tenuous link between oil companies' activity and the fires won't prevent lawmakers from making them liable.

S.B. 222 would shore up the finances of insurance companies on the backs of oil companies, says Julian Zelizer .

Insurance premiums relay important information to homeowners about the risks of building in wildfire-prone areas, he says.

Zelizer : Bill would leave consumers bereft of better information about risks of climate change-enhanced disasters.