California lawmakers seek wartime powers to police gas prices

California lawmakers are moving to give the state attorney general new wartime powers to police gasoline prices, reviving a bitter fight over whether oil companies are exploiting the Iran war — or whether California’s own fragile fuel market is mostly to blame.

State Sen. Josh Becker, D-Menlo Park, and Sen. Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica, introduced the bill this week, proposing to add war — whether declared by Congress or as a sustained military operation — to the list of circumstances the governor can declare a state of emergency. If signed into law, the Wartime Price Gouging Prevention Act would give the attorney general the power to prosecute price gouging on essential consumer goods, including gasoline, when the U.S. is engaged in a military conflict.

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