Newsom’s gas price bill passes Assembly, but Senate plan still uncertain

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s special session proposal to combat gasoline price spikes in California cleared the Assembly Tuesday, putting its fate in the hands of a Senate leader who has been reluctant to join the governor’s latest political crusade.

Assembly Bill X2-1, which would require oil refineries to maintain additional inventory that they can draw from during maintenance periods to sustain a steady supply for drivers, passed the Assembly on a 44-17 vote. A few moderate Democrats joined Republicans in opposition over fears that the plan would instead drive up prices at the pump by restricting supply, while many others withheld their vote.

“Californians face rising costs. That is exactly the point,” Assemblymember Gregg Hart, a Santa Barbara Democrat who carried the bill, told his colleagues on the floor. “We cannot continue with the status quo.”

The measure advances to the Senate, where Democrats were prepared to support a similar proposal before the end of the regular legislative session on Aug. 31. Since then, Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire, a Healdsburg Democrat, has been publicly noncommittal about the refinery bill, reflecting a bubbling tension with the Assembly over the earlier legislation.

A spokesperson for McGuire declined multiple interview requests.

Newsom celebrated the Assembly vote in a statement where he slammed the oil industry for price spikes that he said cost Californians more than $2 billion last year, “forcing many families to make tough decisions like choosing between fueling up or putting food on the table. This has to end, and with the legislature’s support, we’ll get this done for California families.”

The Assembly was under tremendous pressure to act for the past month.

Newsom pushed the Legislature to take up his refinery maintenance proposal in the final days of the regular session, but Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, a Salinas Democrat, balked — responding not just to concerns among his members that the plan could drive up prices at the pump, but also growing frustration over the governor’s frequent strategy of jamming lawmakers on major policy changes at the last minute.

With the added leverage of hundreds of bills just passed by the Legislature on his desk, Newsom immediately called a special session, eager to score a quick win on what has become a signature issue before the oil industry could regroup.

Though Senate Democrats had been ready to approve new inventory requirements for refineries, McGuire initially refused to convene a special session. After meeting with the governor, he softened his position, committing to call his members back to Sacramento if the Assembly sent them a proposal to consider.

The past few weeks appear to have soothed some of the Democratic anxieties over further regulating California’s refineries, despite a public rebuke by the governors of Arizona and Nevada and resistance from labor allies who warned that it could put workers’ safety at risk and cost them jobs.

Several economists endorsed Newsom’s plan as a reasonable approach to smoothing out price spikes during planned seasonal maintenance, albeit with reservations that it would not solve the larger problem of the stubbornly high cost of gasoline in the state.