69% of likely 2024 Washington voters support the Oil Industry Accountability Act

More than two-thirds of like­ly 2024 Wash­ing­ton vot­ers sup­port requir­ing the petro­le­um indus­try to sub­mit detailed infor­ma­tion to the state about the prices it is charg­ing for gaso­line, with a major­i­ty strong­ly sup­port­ive, a poll con­duct­ed in the final weeks of 2023 for the North­west Pro­gres­sive Insti­tute has found.

69% of 700 vot­ers sur­veyed from Novem­ber 14th-15th by Pub­lic Pol­i­cy Polling for NPI backed the idea of reg­u­lat­ing unfair oil com­pa­ny busi­ness prac­tices with pric­ing trans­paren­cy leg­is­la­tion, which is what Sen­a­tor Joe Nguyen’s recent­ly intro­duced Oil Indus­try Account­abil­i­ty Act (Sen­ate Bill 6052) pro­pos­es to do.

Only 21% expressed oppo­si­tion to the idea, while 10% were not sure.

Sen­ate Bill 6052 received a hear­ing today in the Sen­ate Ener­gy, Envi­ron­ment, and Tech­nol­o­gy Com­mit­tee. Request­ed by Gov­er­nor Jay Inslee, it would do the fol­low­ing, as assessed by the Sen­ate’s non­par­ti­san staff:

• Require cer­tain petro­le­um indus­try enti­ties to report or retain spec­i­fied infor­ma­tion regard­ing sup­ply, pric­ing, trans­porta­tion, main­te­nance, and trans­ac­tions of petro­le­um and petro­le­um prod­ucts, sub­ject to con­fi­den­tial­i­ty requirements.
• Cre­ate a Divi­sion of Petro­le­um Mar­ket Over­sight with­in the Util­i­ties and Trans­porta­tion Com­mis­sion (UTC), and direct the UTC to gath­er, ana­lyze, inter­pret, and report on sub­mit­ted infor­ma­tion and oth­er petro­le­um sup­ply and price information.
• Require the UTC to sub­mit a trans­porta­tion fuels assess­ment to the Gov­er­nor and Leg­is­la­ture, and requires the UTC and the Depart­ment of Ecol­o­gy to pre­pare a trans­porta­tion fuels tran­si­tion plan.
• Autho­rize the UTC to impose civ­il penal­ties for fail­ing to pro­vide or fal­si­fy­ing infor­ma­tion relat­ed to trans­porta­tion fuels.
• Pro­hib­it a per­son from mak­ing a decep­tive envi­ron­men­tal mar­ket­ing claim relat­ed to trans­porta­tion fuels.
• Impose an enhanced penal­ty under the Con­sumer Pro­tec­tion Act for unlaw­ful acts or prac­tices relat­ing to the sale of trans­porta­tion fuels.

“We all need afford­able ways to get around, but for decades oil com­pa­nies have set fuel prices with no over­sight or trans­paren­cy,” the Envi­ron­men­tal Pri­or­i­ties Coali­tion points out in a fact sheet urg­ing pas­sage of Sen­ate Bill 6052.

“The oil indus­try extracts some of its high­est prof­its in the entire coun­try from Wash­ing­ton. While we strug­gled through the pan­dem­ic and infla­tion, oil com­pa­nies pock­et­ed his­toric prof­its of over $200 bil­lion in 2022 alone.”

“Cur­rent­ly, the state has no tools to pro­tect the pub­lic and con­sumers from volatile and poten­tial­ly unfair prices at the pump. Con­sumers deserve trans­paren­cy on what goes into set­ting fuel prices, and we need prop­er data col­lec­tion and vis­i­bil­i­ty to achieve that. For decades, the oil indus­try has held a near-monop­oly on our trans­porta­tion options, and has been able to set prices at-will with zero over­sight. There are rea­son­able steps the state can take to pro­tect con­sumers from cor­po­rate greed and unfair pricing.”

NPI agrees and so do the vast major­i­ty of Wash­ing­ton voters.

Here’s the exact text of the ques­tion we asked and the respons­es we received:

QUESTION: State law­mak­ers are con­sid­er­ing strate­gies to pro­tect Wash­ing­to­ni­ans from unjus­ti­fied and exces­sive price increas­es for gaso­line. Do you strong­ly sup­port, some­what sup­port, some­what oppose, or strong­ly oppose pass­ing a new Wash­ing­ton State law to reg­u­late unfair busi­ness prac­tices by requir­ing the oil indus­try to sub­mit detailed infor­ma­tion to the state about the prices it is charg­ing for gasoline?

ANSWERS:

• Sup­port: 69% 
  • Strong­ly sup­port: 54%
  • Some­what sup­port: 15%
• Oppose: 21%
  • Some­what oppose: 7%
  • Strong­ly oppose: 14%
• Not sure: 10%

Our sur­vey of 700 like­ly 2024 Wash­ing­ton State vot­ers was in the field from Tues­day, Novem­ber 14th through Wednes­day, Novem­ber 15th, 2023.

The poll uti­lizes a blend­ed method­ol­o­gy, with auto­mat­ed phone calls to land­lines (42%) and online answers from respon­dents recruit­ed by text (58%).

It was con­duct­ed by Pub­lic Pol­i­cy Polling (PPP) for the North­west Pro­gres­sive Insti­tute, and has a mar­gin of error of +/- 3.7% at the 95% con­fi­dence interval.

Fol­low this link for addi­tion­al method­ol­o­gy details, includ­ing demo­graph­ic data.

NPI and PPP have worked togeth­er for a decade and have a track record of excel­lence, as detailed in this 2022 elec­toral polling recap and this 2020 one.

Below is the Envi­ron­men­tal Pri­or­i­ties Coali­tion’s SB 6052 fact sheet in case you’re inter­est­ed in learn­ing more about this impor­tant leg­is­la­tion. SB 6052 also has a com­pan­ion bill — HB 2232, which has not yet been sched­uled for a hearing.

It’s clear that greater price trans­paren­cy is some­thing Wash­ing­to­ni­ans real­ly want. Law­mak­ers must act this ses­sion to pro­vide that trans­paren­cy and refuse to be dis­suad­ed by the base­less objec­tions of the pow­er­ful, deep pock­et­ed oil industry.