The average price for regular gas broke the six-dollar mark last week for the first time in nearly three years, according to AAA.
But high gas prices have been fueling debates at the State Capitol for months, with many Republican lawmakers pushing proposals to rein in costs. From our partners at CapRadio, Gerardo Zavala has more.
Republican-led efforts to reduce California’s gas tax — currently the highest in the country — have so far failed to advance in the Legislature.
State Senator Tony Strickland says his Gas Tax Relief Act would have lowered prices by a little over a dollar.
"People living paycheck to paycheck, they can’t afford these high gas prices. Seniors on fixed incomes, young people who just got out of college are just starting out in the workforce, they can’t afford these gas prices."
The bill failed in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee. Democratic lawmakers argued it would strip funding from climate programs and conflict with a voter-approved law to keep the gas tax to fund infrastructure.
Strickland says he plans to bring the proposal back.
He also argues the issue isn’t entirely partisan, pointing to San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, a Democrat running for governor, who has proposed suspending the gas tax.
"I think the gas tax itself ought to be temporarily suspended during this war because gas prices are punishingly high and harming working families who don’t have any room in their budget to accommodate these cost increases."
Mahan is referring to the Iran War, which Democrats say is the real reason for the sudden increase in gas prices.