That legislation, which Newsom signed into law in late March, allows the California Energy Commission to set a maximum profit margin for oil refiners and allows the commission to penalize earnings beyond that point.
Newsom has argued the law will help hold “greedy” oil companies accountable after a year of record-high gas prices and profits in 2022. Out of all the 3,400 lobbyist employers who reported figures for Q1 of 2023, Chevron and the Western States Petroleum Association were the two biggest spenders. Chevron dropped about $4.9 million in lobbying during the first four months of 2023, according to Politico, while the WSPA spent $2.4 million.Other list-toppers were Aera Energy, Marathon, Phillips 66, and Valero.
Opponents of the law criticized its passage as rushed, arguing that the state has scrambled to enact the measure without fully considering its consequences.“We cannot have both, on the one hand, a first-of-its-kind, never-been-done-before bill and expect it to be done right in 10 days,” WSPA lobbyist Eloy Garcia argued prior to the bill’s passage in the state assembly in March. “That just does not reconcile.