Legislators this week gave the OK to a proposal advocates say will hold big oil companies accountable, enacting a way to penalize them for price gouging.
They approved the bill uncharacteristically quickly, passing it on Monday, sans support from Republicans and a handful of Democrats, including Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed it into law late Tuesday afternoon.
Quirk-Silva, D-Fullerton, said she had “mixed feelings” about the legislation that gives the California Energy Commission, a five-member body appointed by the governor, the ability to set maximum gross gasoline refining margins and the authority to enact penalties on a company for exceeding that limit.
Companies are also required, under this bill, to report to state regulators information about their pricing to a new state agency that can monitor and investigate the petroleum market and subpoena oil company executives. The California Energy Commission would be able to use this information in determining potential penalties.
More transparency regarding pricing tactics, advocates for the proposal said, could cut down on instances of price gouging.
But Quirk-Silva, in discussing why she did not vote for the bill, said appointed commissions don’t act with the same urgency that legislators would.
And despite assurances from supporters to the contrary, Quirk-Silva said she was concerned the bill ultimately could lead to higher gas prices.
“I feel strongly that as elected officials, we’re allowing a … board to interface in something that affects everyday people and some of our most impoverished hardworking people who need gas for their cars and have to travel quite far,” Quirk-Silva said. “This is going to impact them.”
“If we’re going to have accountability, I think (the oil companies) would be accountable to the legislative body, not a commission,” she said.
The bill was Newsom’s priority this year — he convened a special legislative session…
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