Problem Solvers Are Exactly Who California Energy Policy Needs

California politics is rarely accused of being too practical, but a recent Independent Voter News commentary by Dan Schnur highlights an important exception: the California Legislature’s bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus.

The 26-member caucus brings together Democrats and Republicans from both houses who are attempting to approach some of California’s most difficult issues differently. Rather than beginning with party labels or ideological positions, members are encouraged to identify a problem, understand it and determine whether lawmakers with different political philosophies can agree on a workable solution.

As Schnur notes, the caucus focuses on precisely the issues Californians continually identify as priorities, including housing, energy, health care, transportation and affordability. Its philosophy is particularly noteworthy: economic prosperity and affordability should be treated as complementary goals, and public policy should ultimately be judged by results rather than intentions.

That approach is one reason CIPA has spent considerable time building relationships with Problem Solvers Caucus members.

California's looming energy challenges cannot be solved through the traditional political battle lines surrounding oil and natural gas. Regardless of what Sacramento hopes California's energy system may look like decades from now, the state consumes substantial quantities of petroleum today. That crude oil must come from somewhere.

CIPA's position is straightforward: as long as California requires crude oil, California should produce as much of that supply here at home as reasonably possible.

Producing more of the crude California consumes within California supports local jobs, local tax revenues and domestic energy security while reducing reliance on crude transported thousands of miles from foreign countries. It also means California maintains greater regulatory oversight over the production supplying its own consumers, rather than simply exporting production, jobs, and environmental impacts elsewhere.

This is precisely the type of practical energy conversation CIPA has been having with members of the Problem Solvers Caucus.

One of the clearest examples came this year with AB 2716, CIPA's sponsored legislation addressing California's dysfunctional oil-property transfer requirements. Assemblymember Anamarie Ávila Farías, one of the Problem Solvers Caucus's Democratic co-chairs, agreed to carry the legislation.

AB 2716 was not an ideological oil-industry bill. It attempted to solve a specific problem created by existing law: viable California oil properties can become effectively stranded when financially capable operators cannot acquire them under an unworkable bonding structure. The consequences extend beyond producers. When properties cannot transfer to stronger operators, California can lose production, oil workers can lose employment, local governments can lose property-tax revenue, and the state can ultimately face greater well-abandonment risk.

Assemblymember Ávila Farías helped move AB 2716 almost entirely through the legislative process. The bill passed the Assembly and later received bipartisan support in the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee before reaching the Senate Appropriations Committee. Unfortunately, AB 2716 was not allowed to be voted on by direction of the Senate Pro-Temp and Appropriation’s Chair during the August 13 Suspense Hearing, effectively ending its prospects for this legislative session.

The outcome was disappointing, but the legislation's progress demonstrated something important: lawmakers are willing to reconsider California oil policy when the discussion begins with solving an identifiable problem rather than defending predetermined political positions.

CIPA has worked deliberately to create more opportunities for those conversations.

Each year, CIPA hosts its Oil Symposium in Southern California, with a particular emphasis on legislators who populate the Problem Solvers Caucus and other lawmakers willing to engage seriously on energy policy. The symposium gives legislators an opportunity to hear directly from independent producers, energy experts and others who understand how California's petroleum infrastructure actually operates. This year’s Symposium is being held at the same location as the Problem Solvers Summit and begins just hours after the Summit concludes.

That education is increasingly important.

California's energy debate is often dominated by advocacy organizations demanding that lawmakers eliminate petroleum production as quickly as possible. But lawmakers ultimately have a responsibility that advocacy groups do not: they must consider what happens afterward.

Where will California obtain the crude oil its refineries still require? What happens to gasoline and diesel prices? What happens to energy reliability? What happens to thousands of workers? What happens to producing counties and the tax base supporting local government? And what happens environmentally when California replaces locally produced crude with barrels transported across oceans?

Those are not ideological questions. They are practical ones.

Schnur's commentary notes that Problem Solvers Caucus members agree not to actively work against one another's legislation and that the group brings practitioners and experts into its discussions. He also points to bipartisan successes on issues such as E15 gasoline and infrastructure funding as evidence that this approach can produce tangible results.

For California's independent oil producers, that willingness to listen matters enormously.

CIPA does not expect every member of the Problem Solvers Caucus to agree with the industry on every issue. What matters is having legislators willing to examine California's energy system as it actually exists, consider the consequences of proposed policies and search for solutions even when doing so creates political headwinds from environmental NGOs or colleagues in the Legislature. California's energy problems are becoming too serious for slogans.

The state still needs petroleum. Californians still need affordable fuel. Refineries still need crude oil. And California must decide whether it makes more economic and environmental sense to produce a greater share of that crude under California's extraordinarily stringent regulatory standards or become increasingly dependent upon oil produced elsewhere.

Those are exactly the types of problems the Problem Solvers Caucus was created to address. CIPA intends to keep working with the lawmakers willing to solve them.