CALIFORNIA, USA — On Aug. 31, when Gov. Gavin Newsom called a special session on gas prices, California motorists were paying $4.61 per gallon on average, $1.27 more than the national average.
On Monday, when the state Senate finally convened, prices were $4.68 in California, or $1.51 above the national average.
In between, there has been plenty of political posturing among the governor, Assembly leaders and Senate leadership, and between them and Republicans, plus a back and forth with the oil industry.
CalMatters’ Alexei Koseff reports:
This is not where Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire wanted to be.
Lawmakers are normally home in their districts in October, performing constituent services or running for reelection — not stuck in Sacramento weighing how to prevent gasoline price spikes.
When Newsom, after failing to jam his proposal through the Legislature at the end of the regular session in August, called the special session instead, McGuire refused to go along, insisting that his members had been ready to act before the deadline.
The Healdsburg Democrat lost that battle. After the Assembly returned to the Capitol and advanced a pair of measures on fuel supply last week, McGuire announced that he would convene the Senate for a special session after all.
With the ball now in his court, however, McGuire has found a way to reassert some control. As the session kicked off on Monday, he shelved Assembly Bill X2-9, a secondary measure passed by the Assembly last week that would have directed the state to study increasing the ethanol blend in gasoline and other strategies for expanding supply.
- McGuire, in a statement: “While the goals of this legislation are laudable, and we’re grateful to the Assemblymember’s leadership, a more thorough analysis and additional work is needed on the proposal.”
Instead, McGuire said, the Senate will only consider ABX2-1, which would require oil refineries to maintain additional inventory that they can draw from during maintenance periods to sustain a steady supply for drivers. This is the proposal that Newsom has been pushing for — and essentially the bill that the Senate was prepared to adopt in August.
“We’re ready to move quickly this week,” McGuire said.
A vote on the bill, which cleared its first committee on Monday, is scheduled for Friday.
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