Today, Senate Minority Leader Brian W. Jones (R-San Diego) and Senator Roger Niello (R-Fair Oaks) announced the introduction of an electricity and gasoline affordability legislative package aimed at increasing transparency, oversight, and accountability at the California Energy Commission (CEC) and the California Air Resources Board (CARB).
Together, the lawmakers introduced Senate Bill 929, Senate Bill 1239, and Senate Bill 981, a coordinated set of reforms focused on regulatory accountability and consumer cost transparency.
“These two unelected bureaucracies were never meant to be the most powerful levers in the state government machine and yet, today, the CEC and CARB combined are the single greatest driver of California’s highest-in-the-nation cost of living,” said Jones. “They are completely nonresponsive to the legislature and unaccountable to the voters, yet they impose policies and mandates that make our gas and energy the most expensive in the nation. It’s frankly disgusting. We’ve called for transparency and accountability – they’ve refused– now we’re making it law.”
California drivers regularly pay the highest gasoline prices in the nation, while electricity rates continue to skyrocket. Policies adopted by the CEC and CARB directly impact fuel markets and energy costs. However, the unelected appointees in charge of these agencies have no direct accountability to the legislature or to voters. Both agencies have recently imposed cost-driving regulations with no assessment or disclosure of how those new rules may impact everyday Californians.
“At this moment, families are feeling the squeeze at the pump, at the grocery store, in their utility bills, and in the cost of running a business. Major regulations should not move forward without a clear understanding of how they affect Californians’ cost of living. Every new rule, no matter how well intended, has real consequences,” said Niello.
The Jones-Niello affordability and accountability package includes the following bills:
SB 929 – Requires the Chair of the California Energy Commission to appear annually before the legislature to report on programs, rules and regulations and to outline their effectiveness and their benefit to California ratepayers. The CEC is fully funded by fees charged on Californians' monthly electric bill.
SB 1239 – Requires CARB to prepare an economic impact report on all regulations before they are voted on, ensuring members of the Board and the public have full knowledge of the impacts any new rules or regulations may have on the consumers’ pocketbook.
SB 981 – Requires CARB to explicitly analyze cost-of-living impacts, including effects on gasoline, electricity, groceries, housing construction, and business costs, when evaluating major regulations. Taking a deep dive into the effects of any proposed regulations on California families and economies should be part-and-parcel to the regulatory process, and this bill will ensure that is the case going forward.