By Grace Hase, Bay Area News Group
https://www.sacbee.com/entertainment/living/article316319962.html
As the war with Iran drags into its fourth month, state Sen. Josh Becker (D-Menlo Park) and Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica) have introduced a bill to expand the state attorney general’s power to investigate price gouging on essential consumer goods, including gasoline, when the United States is engaged in a military conflict.
While the attorney general already has the power to prosecute price gouging during declared states of emergency, that power is limited to disasters such as earthquakes, floods, wildfires or pandemics. Known as the Wartime Price Gouging Prevention Act, the bill would add war — whether declared by Congress or as a sustained military operation — to the list of circumstances the governor can declare a state of emergency.
“We already know Californians are struggling with gas, housing, groceries and we cannot always control what happens halfway around the world, but we can make sure that Californians are protected here at home,” Becker said at a press conference on Monday afternoon. “Californians should not be collateral damage in an international conflict.”
Besides gasoline, Becker and Allen also listed food and water as other basic goods that could be impacted by price gouging during wartime.
A recent analysis of U.S. Energy Information Administration data by the nonprofit Consumer Watchdog found that gas prices in California have been more than $1.50 per gallon higher than the rest of the country in 13 weeks out of the 25 weeks analyzed. That’s compared with four weeks in 2024 and two weeks in 2025 that saw the gap exceed $1.50 per gallon.
Jamie Court, the president at Consumer Watchdog, said in an interview that California gas prices are typically higher as the state adds 87 cents more per gallon than the average state because of additional taxes and fees. But when the difference exceeds $1.50 more per gallon, he said it’s usually a sign of “something going wrong.”
“This will be a deterrent to refiners taking too much money because they’re able to take too much money,” Court said of Becker’s legislation. “They know that they will ultimately be held accountable for that and they’ll have to give money back and more.”
The proposal has already been met with push back from industry groups.
“Repackaging a bad idea does not suddenly make it good policy,” Jim Stanley, a spokesperson for the Western States Petroleum Association, said in a statement, referencing a previous decision by the California Energy Commission to suspend implementing a profit cap on refiners. “As California has become increasingly dependent on imported fuels, imposing an arbitrary price cap would make us a less attractive market, risking shortages of the energy our economy depends on.”
California in 2023 passed a law that empowered the California Energy Commission to cap oil refinery profits. But last August the commission voted to delay implementation of a cap amid fears that state oil refineries would shut down and leave the state, creating a fuel shortage crisis. Gov. Gavin Newsom and other California officials have repeatedly accused oil companies of inflating prices but past investigations have found no direct evidence. CBS News in April reported that after a six month investigation it found the state’s gas prices, currently averaging second-highest among U.S. states, reflect state policies, refinery closures and global supply risks.
California Republicans, who are currently fighting to suspend the state’s gas tax that will see a 2.2 cents per gallon hike on July 1, are also decrying the bill.
“If Sacramento is serious about lowering gas prices, it could start by canceling Wednesday’s gas tax hike,” George Andrews, a spokesperson for the California State Assembly Republican Caucus, said in a statement. “Until then, spare Californians the wartime rhetoric while you’re emptying their wallets.”
During the press conference, Allen pointed to a 2022 law he authored that requires oil refineries to report crude oil costs and profit margins to the state as evidence of “price gouging and manipulation.” The refining profit margin spiked this year from 50 cents in January to $1.21 in April — the latest date for which data is available — according to data from the California Energy Commission.
Allen said the latest bill aimed at price gouging would ultimately help correct “inconsistent rules and regulations” across emergencies.
“That’s what this effort is all about,” he said. “It’s about identifying the fact that war is now being weaponized in a brand new way to pad profits in a way that’s really unfair and incredibly cynical.”
