Bill > SB950

This bill makes several key changes to the regulation of transportation fuels in California: 1) It repeals the existing Independent Consumer Fuels Advisory Committee and replaces it with a new 6-member Expert Advisory Committee to advise the Energy Commission and Division of Petroleum Market Oversight on the transportation fuels market. The new committee members must have academic or expert backgrounds in economics or business operations of the transportation fuels market, and cannot have been employed by or received compensation from petroleum companies in the past 12 months. 2) It expressly authorizes the Energy Commission to impose regulations on the timing of refinery turnarounds and maintenance, including requiring refiners to demonstrate they have supply plans in place to mitigate impacts on the fuel market. 3) It authorizes the Energy Commission to develop regulations requiring refiners to maintain minimum inventory levels of transportation fuels, feedstocks, and blending components, in order to avoid price volatility, though the regulations must meet a cost-effectiveness test. 4) It imposes administrative penalties of $100,000 to $1 million per day on refiners that fail to comply with the inventory and turnaround regulations. 5) It requires the Energy Commission's triennial assessment on transportation fuel supplies to now include evaluations of California's future petroleum import needs and the impacts of state regulations that may be constraining fuel supplies.