SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KERO) — State officials have different ideas on how to help California drivers get some relief at the pump. A Republican plan to suspend the state's gas tax failed on Monday.
The proposal would reportedly save 50 cents a gallon.
To get around the usual procedures and take up the bill immediately it needed a 2/3rds vote. But it failed along party lines.
Democrats called it a small cut that they believed wouldn't get passed on to consumers. The governor says the proposal could be manipulated to line the pockets of what he calls the "petro-dictatorship" and oil companies benefiting from the spike in prices.
There are four assemblymen who represent all or parts of Kern County. Republicans Vince Fong, Devon Mathis, and Tom Lackey all voted for the proposal.
Democrat Rudy Salas was one of 18 assembly members who did not vote on the proposal. His office issued the following statement: "Assemblymember Salas was not on the Floor when the vote occurred, his record is very clear when he was the only Assembly Democrat who voted 'No' on the gas tax."
