12/5/03 - Sen. Ron Mercer this week told lawmakers he would propose an amendment to the state’s gasoline price cap law.
Mercer said Wednesday, Dec. 3, he plans to back an amended price-cap formula to ease Hawaii’s highest-in-the-nation fuel prices by tying the prices to a weekly national average instead of a West Coast benchmark.
The new cap was proposed at a Senate panel hearing at the Capitol. The Legislature passed a gas cap law in 2002, but the measure doesn’t go into effect until July 2004.
This summer, prices in the Western United States rose above Hawaii’s average, meaning the law would have driven prices up had it been in effect.
The new version would take a less volatile national spot price, as reported by the Oil Price Information Service. Mercer’s proposal also calls for price caps on all grades of gasoline and diesel fuel, not just for regular unleaded, as currently provided.
Mercer said Wednesday’s briefing was the first of many to come. He said he also was considering a sunset date to the price-cap law to allow for a more effective long-term solution to the problem of high fuel prices, such as the creation of a state fuel authority to sell and deliver fuel.
Gov. Linda Lingle opposes the price cap. She has promised to propose legislation next year to address fuel prices, but has declined to give any specifics.