It’s another stimmy check for every California taxpayer — even if you don’t’ drive or have a car — under a new gas rebate proposal before the state Assembly, but Gavin Newsom thinks only people with cars should get the rebate.
It’s actually been six months now that gas prices have been at an all-time high in California. And even if you don’t have a car, you know that we are creeping into six bucks a gallon territory, because so many people are complaining about it. Governor Gavin Newsom teased a gas rebate in his State of the State address last week, and Democrats in the state Assembly already have legislation ready to go. KTVU reports that a bill is before the California state Assembly that would give a $400 gas rebate for every California taxpayer, and even people without cars would get it.
According to KTVU, “The rebate would cover the current 51.1 cent per gallon gas tax for one full year of weekly fill-ups for a car with a 15-gallon gas tank.”
“Many Californians are feeling severe financial pain at the pump and looking to California’s leaders for help,” Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris said in a press release announcing the bill. “We believe a rebate is the best approach to directly put money in people’s pockets.”
It should be noted that Newsom’s announcement, while vague, specified that only people with cars should get the rebate. “You’ll have to be a California resident, and you’ll have to own a car and then it will go from there,” his senior adviser Dee Dee Myers told told KCRA.
California Republicans in the Assembly had a differing plan to suspend the state’s gas tax, but that was voted down Tuesday, 40-18. Petrie-Norris’ release also took a swipe at the idea of suspending the gas tax, saying it “offers no guarantee that oil companies would pass on the savings to customers.”
Despite the general inflation afoot (and to some degree because of it), California is flush with money and a $31 billion surplus. And even though we just had the recall election, Gavin Newsom is up for reelection again this November. You better deliver on this Gavin if you want another landslide 24-percentage point victory. Four hundred dollars for everyone, Gavin Newsom, and either direct deposit or a debit card works just fine.
Related: Where’s the Cheapest Gas In the Bay Area Right Now? Pleasanton, and Kenwood [SFist]
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