As Gov. Gavin Newsom urges new controls on state oil refineries, California air regulators are considering new rules that could increase gas prices.

Newsom’s special legislative session has no hope of reducing high gas prices and shortages if it refuses to address the actual cause of such high prices and shortages.

The California Senate called an Extraordinary Session to consider legislation that would set new fuel storage requirements for oil refiners aimed at preventing future gas price spikes at the gas pumps.

On Monday, when the state Senate finally convened, prices were $4.68 in California, or $1.51 above the national average.

The legislative struggle over an oil and gas bill continued Tuesday in the California Senate Appropriations Committee, where industry representatives said overregulation could lead refiners to leave the Golden State.

The California Senate leader, who struck up a surprising public spat with Gov. Gavin Newsom over his special session on gasoline price spikes, finally agreed Sunday to call his members back to Sacramento after the Assembly advanced the governor's proposal.

The California Senate's Special Committee on Fuel Supply and Price Spikes approved a bill Monday that supporters say will keep gas prices under control. If passed, Assembly Bill 1 would give the California Energy Commission the authority to change fuel refinery maintenance schedules and establish minimum fuel storage levels for refineries.