This bill aims to protect the energy industry from legal and regulatory challenges related to climate change by prohibiting specific types of lawsuits and state laws. It broadly defines "qualified liability actions" to include any lawsuit seeking damages or other relief from energy businesses for alleged past or future harm resulting from climate change, encompassing claims related to marketing or alleged misrepresentation. The legislation also targets "energy penalty laws," which are state laws or ordinances that attempt to hold energy businesses liable for climate change costs or harms. A central provision of this bill is the outright prohibition of filing or maintaining any qualified liability action in federal or state courts. Furthermore, it mandates the immediate dismissal of all such actions currently pending and declares all existing energy penalty laws void and without effect. This legislative action is based on congressional findings that state efforts to impose such liability invade exclusive federal jurisdiction, lack scientific credibility, and undermine national security by burdening the energy sector. The bill asserts that the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change falls exclusively under Federal law and federal agencies. Consequently, it explicitly states that no private right of action or claim can be maintained, implied, or inferred under any state law regarding climate change-related harms from greenhouse gas emissions. This effectively centralizes climate change liability and regulation at the federal level, shielding energy producers from state-level litigation and penalties.
Get AI-generated questions to help you understand this bill better
Timeline
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Environmental Protection
Stop Climate Shakedowns Act of 2026
USA119th CongressS-4340| Senate
| Updated: 4/16/2026
This bill aims to protect the energy industry from legal and regulatory challenges related to climate change by prohibiting specific types of lawsuits and state laws. It broadly defines "qualified liability actions" to include any lawsuit seeking damages or other relief from energy businesses for alleged past or future harm resulting from climate change, encompassing claims related to marketing or alleged misrepresentation. The legislation also targets "energy penalty laws," which are state laws or ordinances that attempt to hold energy businesses liable for climate change costs or harms. A central provision of this bill is the outright prohibition of filing or maintaining any qualified liability action in federal or state courts. Furthermore, it mandates the immediate dismissal of all such actions currently pending and declares all existing energy penalty laws void and without effect. This legislative action is based on congressional findings that state efforts to impose such liability invade exclusive federal jurisdiction, lack scientific credibility, and undermine national security by burdening the energy sector. The bill asserts that the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change falls exclusively under Federal law and federal agencies. Consequently, it explicitly states that no private right of action or claim can be maintained, implied, or inferred under any state law regarding climate change-related harms from greenhouse gas emissions. This effectively centralizes climate change liability and regulation at the federal level, shielding energy producers from state-level litigation and penalties.