SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – State lawmakers have announced they are forming a committee to investigate why gas prices are so high in California.
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Since the start of the year, gas prices have gone up nearly 40%. Legislators are now demanding they take a deeper look into the industry to figure out why.
"I think this is a great idea," Professor Severin Bornstein, director of the Energy Institute at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, told KCBS Radio. "I have, in fact, been advocating for a select committee to look into this. Obviously they will need staff who have more expertise in the gasoline industry, but they will also have the power to actually subpoena people, to talk to them and to document,"
The committee will first look into how gas prices are set. Bornstein said his number one priority for the committee would be to "get a deeper understanding of how the refineries in California sell their gasoline to the retailers and how much control they have over retail prices."
Not only are gas prices spiking, but energy prices are also skyrocketing beyond the pump in jet fuel and natural gas, Bornstein added. Nonetheless, people are still traveling in spite of the prices, attributed in part to "pandemic fatigue."
With the impending summer recess starting on the first of July, there have been no further details released about when the committee will meet.
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