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Gas Prices on City Council Docket

San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre and City Councilwoman Donna Frye have drafted an emergency ordinance that would declare a city-wide state of emergency, making it a misdemeanor to increase gas prices “excessively and without justification” in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

The City Council on Sept. 6 is expected to consider the proposal, which would amend the city’s municipal code.

Also, on Sept. 2, Aguirre and Frye joined state Sen. Denise Ducheny, D-San Diego, and State Assemblywoman Lori Saldana, D-San Diego, in urging Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to declare a state of emergency in California to avoid price-gouging related to the storm.

“If we find that there is manipulation, we will prosecute individuals who take advantage of this price gouging,” said Aguirre. “We will seek jail time.”

Under state law, the penalties for price manipulation are six months in jail and/or $1,000 a day for each violation. Service station owners would also be subject to unfair business practice claims under the state Business and Professional Code.

In a letter to Schwarzenegger dated Sept. 2, Ducheny wrote that, “Despite the fact that California uses little if any Gulf Coast crude oil, prices of self-serve regular have gone up approximately 10 cents a day since the hurricane hit.”

Proclaiming a state of emergency, she said, would permit the state to “place a cap on the price of this essential commodity so that Californians who were already struggling to deal with pre-Katrina prices could be spared increased hardship.

“Oil companies always justify high gas prices in our state by citing the uniqueness of the California market,” she said. “Now, however, they are saying that we have to be considered as part of the national market. I hope that you will join me in pointing out the hypocrisy of these contradictory comparisons and that you will take the preventive action of calling a state of emergency because of the imminent threat to California consumers.”

Mitch Mitchell, vice president of public policy and communications for the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, said he considers their gesture “a nice thing to do. We pay high prices for gasoline in San Diego, primarily because of our infrastructure our refinery and pipeline capacity. If they are ever able to find gas gougers and prove it, this discussion would more thoroughly make sense. But this has not been the case. We have to look at a mixture of issues that have created this negative gasoline pricing situation.”

In the short-term, he said, “We should meet with industry experts and find out how to bring down the costs.”

Margita Thompson, the governor’s spokeswoman, said that Schwarzenegger had asked the California Energy Commission to look into the problem.

“They didn’t think price gouging has occurred,” she said. “But if they do find any evidence, it would be turned over to the attorney general’s office for prosecution.”

Pat Broderick

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