Opinion: Will Gov. Gavin Newsom's anti-'gouging' law make a difference for California? [Opinion]
to impose a first-in-the-nation “excess” gasoline profit tax never made much headway — even as the case that California drivers were being gouged appeared to get stronger. Last summer, when the average price of a gallon hit a state record of $6.44, that was $2.60 higher than the national norm.
Regulators said that gap was significantly higher than the total cost of higher state taxes and fees, and the rules that require oil companies to make a cleaner, more costly blend of gasoline just for California. Nevertheless, plenty of lawmakers, including Democrats, about unexpected consequences from such a tax — starting with shortages unique to the state that could push up prices even higher.This week, however, Newsom managed to confound expectations, coming up with a compromise that won over Democrats andon Thursday and is poised for an easy win in the Assembly. It would empower the California Energy Commission — whose five members are appointed by the governor and subject to Senate approval — to impose civil penalties on oil companies for price gouging.
Will this bring an end to “oil’s outsized influence” over California, as Newsom melodramatically claimed? Or will it, like past probes of high state gas prices, produce no hard evidence of wrongdoing — or relief at the pump? The muted reaction from most Democratic lawmakers this week to Newsom’s revised proposal suggests the answer.
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