National average gas price could top $4 in June

gas

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Several competing theories on why California experienced price hikes were given to the Senate at the Extraordinary Session Informational Hearing on the proposed Petroleum Windfall Profits Penalty.

California Department of Tax and Finance Agency Director

Nicholas Maduros stated, “Prices go up very quickly, sometimes due to price spikes in crude oil prices, sometimes due to refinery outages, sometimes for maintenance and sometimes for reasons that nobody yet can quite explain.”

GasBuddy projects that “the yearly national average in 2023 will be $3.49 per gallon. The month of February (2023) will see the lowest prices at an average of $2.99 per gallon, while June could average around $3.99 per gallon, with a strong chance of $4 prices returning, making it the priciest month of the year.”

“As we recover from Covid, the refining sector has been permanently changed with shutdowns that have limited

WAGNER, William Loren Sr.

14 August 1926 - 11 February 2023 our ability to produce as much gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. While U.S. refining capacity has been diminished due to Covid and other events, global refining capacity is set to rise, likely helping to ease the decline in U.S. supply,” the GasBuddy forecast stated.

An amazing soul has ascended to heaven to join his wife of over 73 years, Margie, and their two sons who preceded his passing, Bill Jr. and Eric.

William “Bill” Wagner Sr. was born in Los Angeles in 1926 and grew up in North and West Hollywood during the great depression. Times were extremely challenging, and Bill began working at a young age to help support his family. He and his brother, Gaylord, sold newspapers which began his passion for sales, developing relationships, negotiations and deal making. He was a persistent entrepreneur even from a young age. His work experience also included operating a large laundry steam press in his teens and would become his job when he joined the Navy in World War 2. While stationed at Alameda Naval Air Station, Bill met his lifelong love, Margie Cassavechia, dancing at the USO Hospitality House in Oakland in November 1944. Bill and Margie married on June 3, 1945 about 3 months before the end of the war.

After his honorable discharge from the Navy, Bill’s first business was leasing a laundry and dry-cleaning facility he named Wagner Laundry. It quickly became apparent to him that this line of work was causing him health problems. So, he closed this business and started a new business as a dairy products supplier. It was a successful venture in which he owned his own delivery truck and started several delivery routes in new neighborhoods around the Bay Area. A little over two years later Bill would get his real estate license which would shape the rest of his professional career.

Bill joined a real estate firm and the owner-broker suggested he might do well by finding the owners of vacant lots in the Bay Area and persuade them to list their lots for sale with him. Bill took his advice and thrived in his new line of work. He was Rookie Broker of the Year and went on to become a sales leader at the firm. A few years later in the mid 1950s, Bill and his young family moved to Sacramento where he started his own very successful real estate and construction business, Wagner Real Estate.

A little over ten years later in the late 1960s, Bill would develop a relationship with Sambo’s Restaurants, in which he sold them numerous lots to build restaurants. This relationship would lead him to his next business venture.

Sambo’s offered Bill the job of Executive Vice President in charge of Development with the company at their national headquarters in Santa Barbara in 1970. Even though it would require him to move his family again, it was an opportunity too good to let pass. During the next ten years Bill would oversee the building of nearly 1,000 Sambo’s Restaurants nationwide.

After leaving Sambo’s in the early 1980s Bill would become a commercial real developer. His projects continue to be a blessing to a vast number of individuals and families. This also allowed time for him and Margie to travel the world for many years which they both enjoyed. They loved living in Santa Barbara where they were extremely involved members of their church and community. Bill sang in the Constance Street First Presbyterian Church choir for over four decades. He and Margie were also very active members of the La Cumbre Golf and Country Club for five decades and shared a passion for playing golf. He was an avid reader and lifelong learner. Bill was always smiling, telling jokes and had a huge heart, which touched many people in his lifetime. He will be greatly missed.

Bill is survived by his daughter-in-law Carol, grandchildren Bill III (Wendy), Kim (Kevin), Haley, Casey (Leah), Max (Kristen), eleven great-grandchildren, and two great great-grandchildren.

A memorial Funeral Service will be held at First Presbyterian Church at 21 East Constance Street at 1:00 PM on March 18, 2023. A reception will follow at La Cumbre Country Club from 2:00 to 4:00 PM.

All are welcome to attend.

Mr. Brown suggests the Legislature consider key questions of gasoline price spikes such as:

• Are price spikes driven by basic supply-demand balance in a competitive market?

• Why have businesses not invested in additional refining capacity and/or storage capacity that would allow them to take advantage of these price spikes?

• Are there other issues, such as market power due to limited competition, that are driving some of the spikes?

• What legal or regulatory approaches might help address these problems? Potential policy solutions could include requiring suppliers to maintain a minimum level of gasoline reserves or allowing more flexibility to use different types of gasoline when there are supply shortages. The Legislature would need to weigh trade-offs—such as potential

SETO, Alethea

Alethea Seto, dearly adored wife, mother, and grandmother, passed away surrounded by her loving family on February 25, 2023, at the age of 71, in Camarillo.

Born Alethea Maureen Thompson, Thea was raised in the Los Angeles area and graduated from USC with a degree in Occupational Therapy, a profession in which she was engaged throughout her life. After working at Northridge Medical Center, her adventurous spirit moved her to Vancouver, British Columbia, where she traveled in a mobile therapy van throughout Vancouver Island treating many First Nations people and making lifelong friends. Thea returned to southern California to resume a friendship with Raymond Seto. This blossomed into a marriage which blessed them with three beautiful children, Aeryn, Cassandra, and Gregory. After living in Palos Verdes for several years, the family moved to Mission Canyon in Santa Barbara, where Thea devoted her time to raising her children and volunteering at their schools (Roosevelt Elementary, Santa Barbara Middle School, and Santa Barbara High), while continuing her Occupational Therapy career at Cottage Hospital, SELPA, and a variety of home health agencies.

A lifelong mystic, Thea was devoted to living an authentic, purposeful life and seeking the divine through wisdom traditions, earth-based spirituality, and embodied practices including yoga and t’ai chi chuan. She especially enjoyed hosting tai chi retreat groups in Santa Barbara.

After all three of their children left home to attend UC Berkeley, Thea and Ray moved to Ventura County, where she continued to practice Occupational Therapy part-time, and pursued creative writing, volunteering, and healing arts. She created a second family home on the Sonoma Coast and was an active and loving presence for each of her seven grandchildren.

Thea was very proud of her children’s accomplishments. Aeryn became an executive at JP Morgan before pursuing a new path as a Presbyterian pastor. Cassandra graduated from Stanford Law School and became a litigation partner at O’Melveny & Myers. Gregory graduated from Loyola Law School with a JD and LLM in tax before joining Deloitte as an international tax attorney. However, what provided the greatest joy and fulfillment to Thea was her children’s happy marriages to wonderful partners (Shan, Jonathan, and Julia) and their blessing her with beloved grandchildren.

Thea is survived by husband Ray; children Aeryn, Cassandra, and Gregory; and grandchildren Cody, Liv, Jack, Emerson, Dean, Nathan, and Mia. She is also survived by siblings Karen, Kathleen, and David.

A memorial service honoring Thea will be held at the Vedanta Temple on March 25, 2023, at 3:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to the Vedanta Temple.

JACK HUFFORD

3/10/1933 - 6/18/2019

Love you and miss you every day. The Hufford family environmental trade-offs—when evaluating these options that could help maintain adequate supply.

Mr. Brown also suggested, before formulating policy, questions on “excessive” profits going to business:

• What level of profits are considered excessive?

• How can excess profits be differentiated from cyclical fluctuations in profits?

• What is driving large profits— market power, supply limitations, or something else?

• What policy approach most directly addresses the issue of excessive profits—a windfall profit tax, a cap on prices, and/or some other approach?

• How does each potential policy approach ultimately affect the supply of gasoline in California and/or the retail gasoline price paid by consumers?

Senators are concerned by the impact of California price hikes on their constituents, with some laying blame solely on refinery price gouging.