High gas prices may be punished

A first-in-the-nation bill to punish oil companies for profiting from price spikes at the pump breezed through the California Senate on Thursday at the urging of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. The proposal is in response to sales last summer, when the average price of a gallon of gasoline in California soared to a record high $6.48 (U.S.). Lawmakers and Newsom settled on a bill that would let the California Energy Commission decide whether to impose civil penalties on oil companies for price gouging.