State Lawmakers are back at work in Sacramento in a special session to deal with spikes in gas prices.
The governor called the special season to take up a bill to prevent oil companies from raising prices when refineries go offline for maintenance and leave a shortage of gas. The state petroleum watchdog says those increases give refiners a windfall profit–at the expense of California drivers. The bill up for discussion requires the oil companies to keep enough in reserve to avoid sudden price movements and force them to plan for restocking the inventory when the refineries come back on. The governor says the industry’s practices amount to price gouging and have cost Californians millions of dollars at the pump.
Some new flights are about to take off from the region. Officials at Charles Schultz Airport in Sonoma County say Alaska Airlines will begin serving Las Vegas on October 1, with discount carrier Avelo flying to Ontario in southern California on the 10th and Salt Lake City on the 24th. Airport officials say October could be the biggest travel month of the year. They also say the airport is on target for a record 700,000 passengers this year.
