Spring Break Ends and California’s Energy Reality Returns

As the Legislature returns from Spring Break and the policy machinery of Sacramento lurches back to life, CIPA staff has been doing what serious trade associations do in uncertain times: meeting directly with lawmakers and their offices, pressing the case for practical reforms, and making sure California’s independent oil producers are not treated like an afterthought in a state that still depends on oil every single day.

At the top of that agenda is AB 2716, CIPA’s effort to fix bonding problems that are preventing the lawful buying and selling of oil wells and facilities in California. That market paralysis serves no one. It does not help the state, local governments, or workers. And it certainly does not help responsible operators trying to acquire, manage, and properly maintain assets in a complex regulatory climate. CIPA is continuing to make the case that California needs a workable system, not a frozen one.

At the same time, CIPA is preparing to engage both the administration and the Legislature on what should be one of the defining economic questions of the year: how to provide real price relief at the pump for California families. The answer is not mysterious. California will not lower fuel costs by regulating scarcity into existence. The state must take steps to support greater in-state crude production and ensure that California-produced oil can reach the refineries that need it. That includes renewed focus on the San Pablo Pipeline, a vital link for moving crude north from the Central Valley and Kern County to Bay Area refining infrastructure. Bakersfield needs the pipeline, and the Bay Area needs the crude.

CIPA is also urging lawmakers to engage seriously with the Cap-and-Invest rulemaking now underway at CARB. If the state wants to preserve jobs, industrial strength, and a functioning fuels market, it must strongly encourage CARB to accommodate the realities of industry rather than regulate as though industry can simply be wished away. California’s leaders are fond of boasting that California is now the fourth-largest economy in the world. Fair enough. But economies do not become global powerhouses by accident, and they do not stay that way by punishing the industries that built them. California is not an abstraction. It is farms, ports, factories, warehouses, truck fleets, construction sites, refineries, oil producers, and the men and women who keep them running.

That is why the weeks ahead matter. Committee deadlines are approaching. Legislative priorities are sharpening. Regulatory fights are intensifying. And CIPA is making sure the association’s members are represented where it counts most: in the Capitol, in agency discussions, and in the rooms where policy is shaped before the press releases ever appear. CIPA staff is also working in close coordination with key allies, including CROWN and Cal Royalty Network, to ensure that the interests of the association and its members remain front and center until we hit the finish line at the end of session.