SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares the following:(a) There are more than 26 million motor vehicles registered in California.
(b) Californians consume more than 18 billion gallons of motor vehicle fuel annually.
(c) A study adopted by the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) and the State Air Resources Board (Air Resources Board) projects that demand for onroad gasoline fuel will increase by about 1.6 percent annually between now and 2020; that onroad diesel demand will increase by about 2.4 percent annually between now and 2020; and that the number of motor vehicles that Californians drive is growing at a rate greater than the population growth.
(d) California’s refineries are operating at near capacity and California is importing more gasoline and diesel fuel annually to meet this growing demand.
(e) The combination of greater dependence on imported fuels and vulnerability to refinery outages exposes California’s economy to more frequent and higher fuel price spikes.
(f) Political instability in some oil-rich nations, combined with OPEC actions, have raised petroleum prices to new levels.
(g) California gasoline prices are currently among the highest in the country.