SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KERO) — California Governor Gavin Newsom has said several times that Californians need a break from soaring prices at the pump, especially in light of the energy companies' record profits. On Monday, the governor held a special session of the state legislature to present his proposal for holding "Big Oil" accountable.
According to the governor's office, this proposal would create an independent watchdog office within the California Energy Commission. The goal would be to monitor California's petroleum market on a daily basis to ensure market participants are playing by the rules.
Newsom's office says that gas prices in California reached an average high of $6.42 per gallon last fall, which was a record $2.61 higher than the national average. According to the governor, this spike in gasoline prices resulted in record refiner profits of $63 billion in just 90 days.
The governor says the high gas prices are disproportionately affecting low and middle income households, making it that much harder for families to make ends meet.
Assemblyman Vince Fong believes, on the other hand, that investing in increasing refining capacity is the ultimate solution to the gas price spike.
"We need to suspend the state's gas tax immediately for one year and we need to increase the supply of gasoline. That is my message to the governor, and that is my message to every Californian," said Fong. "We need to act and act quickly to reduce the price of gasoline. More rhetoric, more bureaucracy, more red tape that will increase the price of energy in California, which is the approach that the governor is pursuing, is not the right answer."
The governor's proposal would also consist of the California Energy Commission establishing a penalty structure for refiners who charge distributors more than the maximum allowable profit margin for gasoline.
