Could California pause the gas tax or start charging drivers fees based on mileage?

Current events have resulted in a “perfect storm,” state Sen. Tony Strickland said, that might give some momentum to legislative Republicans’ efforts to scale back California’s gas tax.

Republicans in the statehouse have for years railed against the state’s gas tax, unsuccessfully pushing efforts to suspend annual increases to the tax.

This year, among several Republican-led gasoline-related bills, is an effort from Strickland, R-Huntington Beach, to suspend the state gas tax for one year. He concedes that past proposals have been an uphill battle in the statehouse with a Democratic supermajority but contends there are other factors this year that may make his colleagues give his bill more consideration.

That “perfect storm” includes the ongoing affordability crisis in California. On top of that, there is the escalating conflict in Iran and the Middle East, which, as of Friday, had increased gas prices in the U.S. by about 11%, according to the New York Times. Then there are the recent shutdowns of oil refineries: Phillips 66’s Los Angeles refinery closed last year, and Valero’s Benicia refinery is set to shutter in April.

The average gas price in California on Friday, per data from the American Automobile Association, was $4.905 for regular unleaded; the national average was $3.32.

“We need to tackle the affordability crisis, and the high gas prices fall on the whole economy, but it really does fall disproportionately on hardworking families who live paycheck to paycheck,” Strickland said. “So when you’re seeing this perfect storm coming around, I do think more people are open to some of the short-term and midterm and long-term solutions.”

Strickland calls his proposal, Senate Bill 1035, a short-term solution, and he estimates it could save drivers $1.08 per gallon of regular unleaded gas. It’s set for a committee hearing next week.

“Buying time for the state to figure out long-term solutions to this serious problem is a first step,” Stickland said.

Meanwhile, there is another effort barreling through the legislative process, this one from Assemblymember Lori Wilson, D-Suisun City, that would task the state with studying how a road user charge or mileage-based fee system could work.

While other taxes and vehicle fees contribute to how California’s transportation infrastructure is funded, it’s the gas tax that provides the primary source of money for the system, an analysis for Wilson’s Assembly Bill 1421 said.

And with a turn toward more electric or hybrid vehicles, California is looking at a $31 billion shortfall over the next 10 years in declining gas tax revenues, per the California Transportation Commission, the analysis said.

“As California leads the transition to fuel-efficient and zero-emission vehicles, we must modernize our transportation funding system,” Wilson said in the analysis. “Most Californians agree that users of state and local roads should contribute to their maintenance, but the state’s funding system for critical transportation improvements is becoming increasingly unfair, unaffordable and unreliable.”

“We need to continue to examine proposed solutions to address the state’s funding needs in a way that is fair, affordable, transparent and built to last,” said Wilson, who chairs the Assembly Transportation Committee.

The bill passed the Assembly in late January and is awaiting a committee hearing in the upper chamber.

Strickland said he has concerns about what a new fee would mean for Californians already struggling financially. Yes, it’s just a study, he said, but “they don’t study anything they don’t want to implement.”

“I think it goes back to the philosophy, which I am totally against, which says, ‘OK, we are going to try to make it as hard on people as possible to drive cars,’” said Strickland. “There’s more and more bills going through the Legislature that are dedicated to high density and try to urbanize suburban California.

“I personally don’t think that works,” Strickland added, “and what that does is create an affordability crisis.”

Wilson, meanwhile, said in a recent interview with KCRA-TV in Sacramento that the study should be clear that “this is not about burdening families already burdened by our current infrastructure.”

“This is a study, not a tax, and if the Legislature chooses to act at a future date, then based on this study, we’ve told them to look at how do we ensure that we’re not overburdening our families that are currently paying the gas tax,” Wilson said.