SACRAMENTO, California — The California State Assembly on Tuesday approved Gov. Gavin Newsom’s oil refiner proposal aimed at preventing price spikes at the pump.
The Assembly voted 44-17 — with two Democrats joining Republicans in opposition — to pass A.B. 2-1, which would give the California Energy Commission the authority to require oil refiners to store more gas as a buffer against supply shortages that have been associated with price spikes the last two Septembers.
The Assembly voted on the bill, which would also require refiners to make resupply plans for maintenance outages, during a special session of the Legislature that Newsom called at the end of August.
The proposal advanced over warnings from the oil industry, the building trades and the governors of Nevada and Arizona that it would unintentionally raise prices, rather than reduce them. The bill addresses a key challenge of California’s climate transition, which is to keep demand and supply of fossil fuels in sync without major disruptions as the state transitions to renewables.
