At Gov. Gavin Newsom's urging, California lawmakers are expected to begin a special session Monday to consider a penalty on oil profits in response to high gas prices.
A new class of state lawmakers will be sworn in Monday and thrust into the middle of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s political fight with oil companies, testing the clout of an industry that spends heavily to influence the Legislature and potentially affecting gas prices for Californians.
The sting of high gas prices has been felt all over the world. One week before the November election, President Biden threatened a similar federal tax on major U.S. oil companies unless they increased production. Several European countries, including the United Kingdom and Spain, have implemented windfall profits taxes while other international governments have shown interest in some form of profit penalty.
The special session is the first Newsom has called since taking office in 2019 and allows for bills to take effect faster, 90 days after adjournment, than legislation passed in a regular session. Both Senate President Toni Atkins and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon declined interview requests. Rendon wants to see the governor’s proposal before commenting, a spokesperson said.
The California Energy Commission pointed out that “maintenance issues” at the five refineries in the state were often related to price spikes. With a limited number of refineries in California, problems that take equipment offline offset the balance of supply and demand. Staff said the state is isolated from alternative sources, such as international producers, and price spikes caused by refinery outages last longer than in other places because of delays in backfilling supply.
Refineries are not required to report planned maintenance to the state, which means multiple refineries can end up unexpectedly reducing production at the same time and lowering supply.
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