California Senate passes bill aimed at preventing gas price spikes

The California state Senate passed a measure Friday to prevent gas prices from spiking in a state where it is notoriously expensive to fill up at the pump.

The proposal, backed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, would give energy regulators the authority to require that refiners keep a certain amount of fuel on hand. The goal is to try to keep prices from increasing suddenly when refiners go offline for maintenance. Proponents say it would save Californians billions of dollars at the pump.

The bill was inspired by findings from the state’s Division of Petroleum Market Oversight, which demonstrated that gas price spikes are largely caused by increases in global crude oil prices and unplanned refinery outages.

State Sen. Nancy Skinner, a Democrat representing Berkeley, said the proposal is about saving money for consumers.

“While global crude prices are not something we can control, a shortage of refined gasoline is something that we can prepare for,” she said.

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