State lawmakers to investigate gas prices

SACRAMENTO — With steep gasoline prices still stinging Californians at the pump, Democratic Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon on Monday announced a legislative inquiry to determine if oil companies are “ripping off ” drivers.

Combined with the highest inflation rate in four decades, California’s highest-in-the nation gas prices remain a volatile political issue in the midst of an election year, and Republican lawmakers continue to attack the Legislature’s Democratic leadership for failing to take quick action to provide relief.

Rendon said the Assembly select committee will consider what measures the state can enact to reduce gas prices and “stand up to the profiteers who are abusing a historic situation to suck profits from California’s wallets.”

Committee hearings are expected to begin in coming weeks and could run through November.

“It is no secret that Californians are enduring financial pain at the pump. Amidst global uncertainty, supply chain challenges and COVID there are questions as to why gas prices are at an unprecedented high with no apparent end in sight,” said Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, a Thousand Oaks Democrat, who will chair the committee. “California leaders must protect consumers from further harm.”

Republican Assembly Leader James Gallagher called the inquiry “another dead-end study.”

Republicans for months have been pushing for a temporary suspension of California’s 51-cent-pergallon excise tax on gasoline, including a small increase scheduled for July 1, arguing that it would provide immediate relief to California drivers.

Newsom and Democratic legislative leaders have rejected the idea.

Rendon on Monday said doing so would cut off funding for much-needed infrastructure projects and cost jobs. He added that there’s no guarantee that the oil companies would pass that savings onto drivers.