Posted on: Friday, April 5, 2002
No study needed on gas prices, House says
Staff and News Services
House lawmakers seeking to keep alive a proposal to set a maximum price on gasoline in Hawai'i urged their Senate colleagues to hold hearings on the measure rather than form an investigative committee to further study the matter.
"The evidence is clearly there," Rep. Paul Whalen, R-5th (North and South Kona-Ka'u), said yesterday at a news conference. "The time to act is now."
Whalen and other House members spoke a day after an informational hearing at which state attorneys briefed lawmakers on information gleaned about the gasoline industry over the four-year course of the state's recently settled price-fixing lawsuit against oil companies.
Lawmakers now are looking for ways to bring Hawai'i's gas prices, traditionally among the highest in the country, more in line with the national average.
Yesterday, Gov. Ben Cayetano said he also supports some sort of cap on gas prices.
"I think there should be a cap as well because Hawai'i's market is small and it's very difficult for new competition to come in," Cayetano said at a briefing for reporters earlier in the day. "There's no real competition to speak of in this state, and as a result the gas prices have been the highest in the nation and the profits are also the highest in the nation, and our people should not be forced to carry that kind of burden because these folks have a captured market.
"So, I think it's appropriate if we can find a way to cap the prices and provide an offset for transportation costs and allow them a reasonable profit. I think that if we don't do it this year, we certainly should do it next year."
A House-passed measure that would establish a gasoline price cap has not been heard by Senate committees. Those committees have instead sought to set up an investigative committee to study how gas prices in Hawai'i are set and make recommendations on how to bring down prices.
Sen. Ron Menor, chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing, introduced the resolution calling for the investigative committee.
He said this week that the information obtained through the price-fixing lawsuit is so voluminous that it must be studied by experts before any laws are enacted to ensure there are no unforeseen consequences, such as driving up the price of other fuels.
Whalen, author of the House measure, said no further investigation is needed.
"The information is there if they want to get it," he said.
House members are looking to keep their proposal alive by amending an energy-related Senate bill to include their language establishing the price cap.
The measure would require the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism to establish quarterly, maximum wholesale gasoline prices for Hawai'i.
Such a proposal would lower gasoline prices in Hawai'i by about 40 cents per gallon, said Rep. Kenneth Hiraki, D-25th (Kaka'ako-Downtown Honolulu).
The national average price of regular unleaded gasoline yesterday was $1.38 per gallon, according to AAA. Average per-gallon prices in Hawai'i ranged from $1.56 in Honolulu to $1.81 in Hilo and $1.86 in Wailuku.
