California passed a law to curb spikes in gas prices. Why isn’t it using those powers now?

THREE YEARS AGO, California built a first-in-the-nation system aimed at protecting drivers when oil markets turn calamitous. The Legislature passed it. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed it. He proclaimed “California took on Big Oil and won.”

Its author, then-Sen. Nancy Skinner, called it a “landmark law” that “will allow us to hold oil companies accountable if they pad their profits at the expense of hard-working families.”