Bill Amendment: IL HB3594 | 2025-2026 | 104th General Assembly

NOTE: For additional amemendments please see the Bill Drafting List

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Bill Title: EXTREME WEATHER RECOVERY ACT

Status: 2026-03-27 - House Committee Amendment No. 1 Rule 19(c) / Re-referred to Rules Committee [HB3594 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2025-HB3594-House_Amendment_001.html

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Rep. Lilian Jim�nez

Filed: 3/13/2026

 

 

 

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AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 3594
AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 3594 by replacing
everything after the enacting clause with the following:
"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;

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(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

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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

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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

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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,
disinformation, and misrepresentations pose a threat to
the health, safety, and security of all residents of, and
visitors to, this State. Responsible parties have

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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;

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(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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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 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

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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.

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

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(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.
(l) "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.
(m) "Strict liability" means liability that does not
depend on actual negligence or intent to harm, but that is

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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) No action may be filed against any responsible
party based on the doctrine of strict liability in tort to
recover for climate-attributable damage unless the action
is commenced within 3 years after the date on which the
harmed party knew, or through the use of reasonable
diligence should have known, the existence of
climate-attributable damage.

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(iv) The amount in controversy is at least $10,000.
The plaintiff's 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 enforcement, and other
remedial 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

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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 Section,
the action may not be transferred to a different venue,
including federal court, without the written consent of all
parties.
(f) 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.
(g) 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

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legislation or administrative rule, contractually
obligated, or court-ordered insurance claim payouts.
(h) 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.
(i) 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.
(j) 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.
(k) Notwithstanding any other law, none of the following

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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

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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 on the 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.
(l) 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.
(m) 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.
(n) 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

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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.
(o) 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 attorneys to be in violation of the rules of
professional conduct.
(p) 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.

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(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:

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(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.

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(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

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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

10400HB3594ham001 - 27 - LRB104 07136 JRC 34932 a
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

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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

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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.
(c) The remedies provided in this Act are in addition to
any other remedy available to a person or the State at common

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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

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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.".