SACRAMENTO – Senator Brian Jones (R-Santee) gave Senate Democrats another opportunity to provide gas price relief with an amendment to fund a gas tax holiday. Democrats rejected the Republican effort, even as California drivers are paying $6.27 for a gallon of unleaded gas – nearly two dollars more than the national average.
Democrats refused to consider the amendment during the final days of budget discussions, even though the gas tax is scheduled to increase on July 1.
“Gas is too damn high! This evening, I introduced a very simple amendment that would help suspend the state gas tax beginning Friday,” said Senator Jones. “That’d be almost 54 cents cut from the cost of every gallon of gasoline immediately and we could use money from the State’s $100 billion budget surplus to backfill funding for state transportation projects. This is not a partisan issue, even President Biden endorses a gas tax suspension. Yet, Capitol Democrats once again rejected a solution to immediately lower gas prices and keep transportation projects on track. Californians know who to thank for these record high prices.”
Earlier this month, Senate Republicans released a roadmap of Democrats’ broken promises and failures on gas taxes.
“Democrats slammed on the brakes yet again on relief at the pump. Republicans have given them every opportunity to do the right thing for drivers, and at every turn in the road, they do nothing but talk. Thank a Democrat when you are paying a higher gas tax on Friday,” said Senate Republican Leader Scott Wilk (R-Santa Clarita).
To illustrate the failures of Democrats on gas taxes, Senate Republicans created a Roadmap of Democrat Failures on Gas Taxes. Click here to view the website.
