From CalMatters Capitol reporter Alexei Koseff:

Only a few months delayed, Gov. Gavin Newsom finally got to take his victory lap over the oil industry on Monday.

Surrounded by Democratic lawmakers and other supporters in the state Capitol rotunda, Newsom signed Assembly Bill X2-1, his proposal to address gasoline price spikes, which he called “a profoundly consequential effort to reduce the costs of working people in the state of California.” 

The measure aims to smooth out seasonal surges in prices at the pump by increasing state oversight of refinery maintenance. This could include requiring operators to maintain a minimum fuel reserve that they can dip into when they go offline.

The governor pushed for a version of this bill at the end of the legislative session in August but was rebuffed by lawmakers frustrated that they had no time to vet it. So Newsom called a special session, bringing the occasionally reticent Legislature back to Sacramento in the middle of an election campaign to pass his proposal, despite political jitters and the vocal opposition of organized labor.

But during Monday’s signing ceremony, Newsom reserved his fire for oil companies — one of his primary political punching bags in recent years — eviscerating them as polluters, liars and price gougers.

• Newsom: “They’re screwing you. They’ve been screwing you for years and years and years. There’s no other way to put it.”

Minutes before the event began, the governor released an animated video in which he accused the industry of manipulating prices to scare voters into supporting former President Donald Trump in the November election. Newsom, who has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, denied that his proposal was political retribution, but pointed to reports earlier this year that Trump asked fossil fuel executives to finance his campaign in exchange for deregulation.

• Newsom: “When a former president of the United States asks for $1 billion — $1 billion — in a room of oil industry executives to roll back regulations, I think that should scare the hell out of you. It sure as hell scares the hell out of me.”

The Western States Petroleum Association, which represents the oil industry in California, slammed Newsom for “a political performance” that “chose to demonize an industry that powers California’s economy and fuels the daily lives of millions.”

• President and CEO Catherine Reheis-Boyd, in a statement: “The Governor’s attacks, filled with personal insults toward the press and the industry, only serve to divide, not address the urgent issues we face.”

The ceremony followed a succinct floor session in which the Assembly gave final approval to the bill so quickly and unceremoniously that reporters in the back of the chambers didn’t even realize the vote had happened at first.

There was no formal debate before the Assembly concurred in the Senate amendments to the proposal by a 42-16 vote, one more than the minimum for passage. Four Democrats joined Republicans in opposition, while many others abstained. 

Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher of Chico, who briefly and unsuccessfully tried to adjourn the session before members could vote, told reporters it was “a complete travesty” that the special session had “done absolutely nothing but increase” gas prices, referring to arguments that mandating fuel reserves would drive up costs by artificially limiting supply. 

“Even if in theory it stops price spikes, it still doesn’t bring them down,” he said following the session. “And the problem is the price is too damn high right now.”

Several Democrats running in legislative races this fall are touting their support for reproductive rights — or emphasizing their Republican opponents’ lack thereof — as a key talking point, writes CalMatters’ Alexei Koseff.

But why focus on the issue? After all, the Democratic supermajority in the state likely guarantees that no individual race will change California’s abortion rights policies, which are overwhelmingly popular with California voters.

The party’s chairperson said it’s because all politics is national now. Issues in the presidential race often drive the conversation down the rest of the ballot. And candidates argued it’s important because if Trump is re-elected, his administration could challenge California’s abortion laws.

• Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo, a Santa Clarita Valley Democrat who is in a tight race with Republican Patrick Lee Gipson for re-election: “It’s because we’ve elected state legislators who’ve fought for this. If we erode that, if we elect extreme anti-abortion people like my opponent, then that continues to build that threat.”

Some Republicans, however, said Democrats are hammering on the topic because the party’s other policies have failed voters.

• Jessica Millan Patterson, chairperson of the California Republican Party: “I understand it. If I were a California Democrat, I would want to talk about anything but what California voters care about. The abortion issue here in California has been asked and answered.”

Learn more about abortion as an election issue in legislative races in Alexei’s story.

Today marks the seventh day of a 350-mile march by roughly 50 Sikhs hoping to highlight a 1984 massacre in India and the repression faced by California’s Sikh community.

The “Fearless for Justice March” kicked off in Bakersfield and is scheduled to end at the state Capitol in Sacramento on Nov. 1, reports The Sacramento Bee.

In addition to calling on Congress to recognize the 1984 massacre as a genocide against Sikhs, who are an ethnic and religious minority group in India, marchers are also pushing for laws to prevent transnational repression — defined by the FBI as intimidation or violence against dissidents in the U.S. by foreign governments.

Earlier this year, Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains, a Bakersfield Democrat and California’s only Sikh state lawmaker, introduced a bill that would have helped train law enforcement to identify and address transnational repression. The measure listed India as one of the governments that use transnational repression, which garnered heavy opposition from conservative Hindu activists who argued that the bill overlooked violence committed by Sikh separatists. 

The bill eventually died but the march again spotlights the sometimes strained relations between the Hindu and Sikh communities, as well as the rising hate crimes against Indian Americans in California.

California Voices

CalMatters columnist Dan Walters: Gov. Newsom’s grandstanding over the new oil refinery law could be to distract consumers from the cost of weaning California from fossil fuels.