California lawmakers to investigate the cause of high gas prices, President Biden calls for temporary gas tax suspension

CENTRAL COAST, Calif. – According to AAA, California's gas price average is over $6, including here on the Central Coast. Lawmakers in the state Assembly announced they will investigate oil companies they say are “abusing a historic situation to suck profits from Californians’ wallets.”

President Biden called on Congress to suspend federal gas and diesel taxes for three months.

This suspension will also include the state of California.

According to the White House, the federal government charges an 18-cent tax per gallon of gasoline and a 24-cent tax per gallon of diesel. Through the Highway Trust Fund, those taxes fund critical highways and public transportation.

The president is also calling on Congress to make sure that a gas tax holiday has no negative effect on the Highway Trust Fund.

In California, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon announced a bipartisan committee to investigate gas price gouging, with plans to question oil companies, regulators, and economists to find out why California’s gas prices are consistently the highest in the country.

“Shell has made about 9.1 billion dollars in the first quarter, Chevron has made 6.2 billion dollars in the first quarter of this year," said Rendon.

Democrats are still working with the governor's office on the budget to try and provide some kind of rebate directly to Californians.

“We're going to have something done very very soon," said Rendon.