BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — The Auto Club of Southern California reported that for the second time in 20 years, Californians paid the highest gas prices in the nation in 2019.

The report said that today’s retail statewide average is $3.56 a gallon for regular unleaded, which is two cents lower than last week. Even thous the state's gas prices have been declining for the past eight weeks, the state’s annual average price for 2019 was $3.72 – 16 cents higher than the next most expensive state, Hawaii.

As of Thursday, Bakersfield's average price of gas is $3.70, down three cents from last week. The average price of gas in Bakersfield for 2019 was $3.75, according to AAA.

For the lowest prices of gas in Kern County, click here.

The only other year that California’s average annual price surpassed that of Hawaii was in 2015, which was the year of the major explosion at the Exxon Mobil refinery in Torrance that caused major supply issues.