SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A handful of California legislators were back in Sacramento on Thursday to vote on three bills that are part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s special session on gas prices.
Members of the oil and gas industry say they’re concerned that some oil refiners will leave California if more regulations are put in place.
The governor wants to mandate refineries to stockpile gasoline, which he said will help prevent prices from spiking whenever a refinery goes offline for maintenance. Gas prices in California tend to increase whenever a planned or unplanned maintenance occurs to supply available.
Hugo Castañeda is one of dozens of refinery workers who traveled to Sacramento from Southern California to express his concerns with Newsom’s plan.
“All of this is going to affect our livelihood, our members, everyone in general,” he said.
Castañeda expressed worries about refineries potentially shutting down in California if they are forced to comply with more regulations.
“There’s so many regulations that don’t make sense for [refinery owners] so they just leave and that hurts all of our pockets,” he added.
The Inland Empire resident has worked in the industry for 15 years. He notes it was important for him to drive to Sacramento to oppose Newsman’s plan.
“Some of these bills do hurt us, they do affect us. Whether they affect the prices of fuel or affect our jobs.”
Castañeda explained keeping additional supply at hand is not as simple as the governor has stated.
“There’s no more tank storage anywhere. In certain places, you only get that certain spot and that’s it so yeah, they want us to store more, but where?”
The bill was amended so that refineries wouldn’t be required to buy new storage tanks, but rather use the infrastructure that’s already in place.
“We really appreciate the committee’s amendments today that make sure that we are going to maximize our existing infrastructure and not require there to be new storage tanks in refinery communities,” said Raquel Masson with the California Environmental Justice Alliance.
Martin was part of a group of supporters that the governor met with prior to the hearing. The supporters included mayors, representatives from consumer organizations, environmental advocates, labor, and business leaders.
“The last price spike in 2023 cost California consumers an extra $2 billion. If by requiring refiners to keep two days extra supply on hand, we can save half that amount, the minimum inventory requirements will have a huge return for the state,” said Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog.
Legislators in the Assembly's special session committee passed Newsom’s proposal. Most Democrats supported the measure, while Republicans votes no.
Assemblymember James Gallagher introduced a bill that would exempt transportation fuels from the state’s cap-and-trade program, which is California’s strategy to reduce greenhouse gas pollution.
“My bill removes a hidden tax in our gas that would instantly lower prices by upwards of 30 cents a gallon. We need urgency. What we need to be talking about is, how do we move gas prices down immediately,” Gallagher said.
Democratic lawmakers ultimately rejected Gallagher’s bill.
“Californians need that relief now. It’s killing family budgets,” he said.
While the governor’s plan won’t lead to immediate relief at the pump, Assemblymember Alex Lee says it’s a crucial first step to lowering gas prices.
“What’s important to know is that a very few handful of corporations control this market that everyone is affected by and by putting more scrutiny, more control, more accountability on them, will even out the price spikes,” Lee said.
Lawmakers are set to return to Sacramento on Oct. 1 to vote on the special session bills on the Assembly floor.