(The Center Square) – Senate Republican Budget Leader Chris Gildon is again calling on Gov. Bob Ferguson to suspend the Climate Commitment Act to provide some financial relief at the pump.
A gallon of gas averaged $5.66 in Washington on Thursday, a full $1.42 over the U.S. average, according to AAA.
Diesel averaged $6.62 per gallon Thursday, down 20 cents from a month ago, but nearly $2 higher per gallon than a year ago.
The CCA adds an estimated 52 cents per gallon to the cost of gasoline. In 2025, Democrats also increased the state gas tax to 55.4 cents per gallon, the third highest in the nation, with automatic 2% annual increases.
“The reason that we have all of these high gas prices, at least about 50 cents per gallon, is because of the CCA and all of the compliance costs associated with that,” said Gildon in a Wednesday interview with The Center Square.
Gildon’s initial letter to Ferguson, sent May 20 asked him not to do away with CCA taxes, but to temporarily suspend them.
“You’ve got to balance your climate goals with people’s ability to just live in your state,” Gildon said.
The Puyallup Republican told The Center Square he did not receive a direct response from Ferguson.
“One of his staff members responded, and I think it was a very unfortunate response. It showed a complete lack of empathy for people in our state. They basically just decided to say, ‘this is all Trump’s fault, and the war in Iran and that’s who you should go talk to.'”
Gildon said he acknowledges that the war in Iran and federal policies have an impact.
“But we at the state level can’t control that. We can control the things that happen within our own borders,” he said. “And that’s why I’m still holding out hope that the governor will actually respond himself, and not through a staff member.”
TCS reached out to Ferguson’s office and received a response from staff member Brionna Aho.
“Since March, gas prices have gone up $1.36 per gallon for one reason only: President Trump’s decision to go to war against Iran. The high gas prices caused by President Trump’s war in Iran does not constitute an emergency that allows the governor to exercise his extraordinary emergency powers.”
“While the governor appreciates Sen. Gildon’s extremely broad interpretation of the governor’s authority, a more constructive way to address the dramatic recent increase in gas prices would be to contact the man responsible for that increase: President Trump.”
Aho added that recent independent analysis projects the costs of both the CCA and Clean Fuel Standard well below what Gildon is suggesting.
Gildon said the lack of a direct response from the governor is frustrating.
“I sent out another press release [Tuesday] just encouraging the governor to respond to this,” said Gildon characterizing the staff response from Ferguson’s office as “dismissive and non-empathetic.”
“I think the people of our state deserve to know where the governor is on this issue. So, if he believes that the Climate Commitment Act is so important that people need to suffer and continue to suffer, then he should come out and defend his policy and say, ‘hey, look, I know that you’re hurting. but this is more important because X, Y, and Z. Just be honest.”
Congressman Michael Baumgartner (WA-05) has also called on Washington state leaders to provide immediate relief for families and small businesses through the temporary suspension of the CCA.
“Washingtonians are not just paying the price for Iran’s rogue behavior; they are paying a heavy premium driven by state policy,” said Congressman Baumgartner. “This climate change surcharge is little more than a vanity project designed to make people in downtown Seattle feel good about themselves, while severely penalizing working people across the rest of the state,” wrote Baumgartner in a March 9 press release.
