California Governor Gavin Newsom Signs Bill to Prevent Gasoline Price Spikes

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Oct. 15, 2024) - With inflation impacting everyone's budgets, stable prices for necessities like food and gas are more important than ever.

Monday afternoon Gov. Newsom signed into law a bill allowing the state to require refiners to store enough gasoline to protect consumers from price spikes at the pump.

California is the first state in the nation to set a course toward protecting consumers by imposing minimum inventory requirements on oil refiners when they go offline for maintenance.

The following statement is by Daniel Barad, western states policy manager at the Union of Concerned Scientists:

"The bill fixes an issue with oil supply and demand. When refiners don't set aside adequate fuel in advance of shutdowns, gas prices spike for Californians. This bill will help avoid those spikes by requiring refiners to store a minimum amount of fuel during shutdowns.

"I commend Gov. Newsom, Speaker Rivas, Pro Tem McGuire and the entire legislature for fighting back against the oil industry's efforts to manipulate the market and drive up prices. Our leaders understand that California's gasoline refining sector is becoming highly concentrated. They're leading the effort to ensure oil companies don't abuse their market power by holding them accountable for their management of refinery shutdowns.

"Establishing requirements for minimum fuel storage is a critical step in planning for a safe and equitable petroleum phaseout as gas consumption declines in California and the state moves toward zero-emission transportation."

Additional Resources:

Fact Sheet: A Petroleum Phaseout Plan for California Blogs: California Needs a Petroleum Phaseout Plan

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.