Shortly after deadly wildfires ignited in Los Angeles County in January, California lawmakers introduced bills to stiffen penalties for arson and other related crimes. One contentious measure — which had the backing of nearly every environmental organization in California — also sought to hold oil companies accountable for wildfires and climate disasters.

The bill failed to advance last week, but not due to any fierce opposition from oil companies. Rather — in yet another example of how Big Oil wins in a state known for being a “climate leader” — it was Big Labor that had the outsized role in blocking the bill.

As CalMatters’ Ryan Sabalow explains, the proposal by Sen. Scott Wiener would have allowed wildfire victims and insurers to sue oil companies for causing climate disasters. At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week, the San Francisco Democrat argued that destructive wildfires during the winter have become “the new normal in California.”

Wiener: “And right now, who is paying for these climate disasters? … We’re paying for them.”

The only major political donor supporting the proposal was the California Federation of Teachers, which gave at least $2.5 million to legislators since 2015, according to CalMatters’ Digital Democracy database.

Fossil fuel companies, as well as other business groups, did push against the bill. But the biggest donors in opposition were trade unions, which gave a total of at least $12 million to lawmakers over the last decade.

Chris Hannan, president of the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California: “This bill’s terrible, terrible policy. And it puts our jobs in jeopardy and puts our state in jeopardy.”

Compared to other lobbying organizations, labor unions fare better at passing or spiking legislation that fits their agenda, and roughly a quarter of the Legislature is made up of current or former union members. At the hearing, the judiciary committee, composed mostly of pro-labor Democrats, rejected the measure.