California state senator demands energy commissioners resign over tire regulation that could double prices

A Republican state senator is calling on all five members of California's Energy Commission to step down after the board approved tire regulations that critics say will phase out 70% of the replacement tire market and nearly double costs for drivers.

Sen. Tony Strickland, the vice chair of the state Senate Transportation Committee, sent a letter Thursday to every commissioner on the California Energy Commission demanding their resignations. The letter came days after the commission voted Monday to approve new energy-efficiency standards for replacement tires, rules that will begin phasing out non-compliant tires in 2029 and, according to the Tire Industry Association, could push the average price of a single tire from $81 to as much as $157.

For a family replacing all four tires, that price gap could exceed $300 per vehicle. Strickland framed the vote as an act of bureaucratic indifference toward working Californians already stretched thin by the state's cost of living.

In his letter, Strickland wrote:

"At a time when families are struggling to make ends meet, the CEC approved a new mandate that will force struggling families to purchase more expensive replacement tires."

The regulations target what the commission calls high-rolling-resistance tires, cheaper replacement tires that use more fuel than the factory-installed tires that come with new vehicles. The commission's position is that the new standards simply bring aftermarket tires in line with the efficiency of tires already on new cars. A spokesperson told The Post that the state is "phasing in a standard that protects drivers from lower-quality, money-draining tires."

But critics see it differently. They argue the rule will wipe out lower-cost tire options that budget-conscious drivers depend on, and that the people making the decision face no consequences for getting it wrong.

Strickland targets unaccountable appointees earning six figures to meet once a month

Strickland's resignation demand zeroes in on a structural complaint that runs deeper than tire prices: the commissioners who approved the rule are gubernatorial appointees, not elected officials. Gov. Gavin Newsom appoints them, the state Senate's Democratic supermajority confirms them, and they serve staggered five-year terms. Voters have no direct say.

Strickland told The Post that the arrangement insulates the commissioners from the kind of accountability that elected officials face.

"If these commissioners had to face the voters this November; they would all be removed."

He pressed the point further:

"You have recourse in terms of an election. You don't have that with these unaccountable boards and agencies."

The commissioners earn between $166,306 and $215,631 a year. Strickland characterized the workload as light, saying the board meets only once a month. One of the five commissioners is Nancy Skinner, a former Democratic state senator who represented Berkeley before Newsom appointed her to the energy commission. California's broader pattern of politically aligned appointees shaping major policy from positions insulated from voters is a recurring flashpoint in state politics.

Strickland did not spare Newsom, either. He described the commissioners as "political insiders who are close to Governor Newsom" and suggested the governor is personally disconnected from the burden the regulation imposes.

"Someone like Gavin Newsom, I guarantee, hasn't changed his tires in a long time, or he's never changed his tires."

Newsom defends the rule as a billion-dollar fuel savings

Newsom pushed back on Wednesday, framing the tire standards as part of a broader affordability agenda rather than a cost increase. He pointed to projected fuel savings as the regulation's payoff.

"Back to just facts, save a billion dollars a year in fuel. You talk about an affordability agenda, that makes some sense to me."

The governor also described the return on investment as "pretty good." But neither Newsom nor the commission's spokesperson addressed the Tire Industry Association's price projections directly, or explained how a family already struggling to afford an $81 tire benefits from being told the $157 replacement will save fuel money down the road.

That gap between Sacramento's cost-benefit math and a driver's next trip to the tire shop is exactly where Strickland and other Republicans are driving their argument. The political dynamics echo the kind of voter frustration over elite decision-making that has reshaped races across the country.

Republican gubernatorial candidate pledges to defund the commission entirely

Strickland is not the only Republican escalating the fight. Earlier in the week, Steve Hilton, a Republican candidate for governor, pledged to eliminate the California Energy Commission altogether by gutting its funding if elected. The commission's responsibilities extend well beyond tires, it plays a role in energy policy, power-plant siting, and efficiency standards across the state.

Hilton's pledge and Strickland's resignation demand represent two different approaches to the same target. One wants to fire the people running the agency. The other wants to shut the agency down. Both reflect a growing Republican argument that California's regulatory apparatus has become a self-perpetuating machine that imposes costs on ordinary residents while answering only to the governor who appointed its leaders.

No commissioner has publicly responded to Strickland's resignation demand. The commission spokesperson's statement to The Post defended the substance of the regulation but did not address the call for resignations. Whether any commissioner would voluntarily step down, or whether Newsom would entertain replacing any of them, remains an open question. In a state where Democrats hold a legislative supermajority, the political leverage available to Republicans like Strickland is limited to public pressure and the argument itself.

Congressional Republicans have faced similar dynamics at the federal level, where conservative lawmakers have had to use procedural leverage to force concessions from leadership on spending and policy priorities.

Seventy percent of the tire market could vanish by 2029

The stakes of the regulation extend beyond sticker shock. Critics project that roughly 70% of the current replacement tire market will fail the new efficiency standards and be phased out by 2029. If that estimate holds, California drivers will face a dramatically narrower selection of tires, and the remaining options will skew toward higher-priced models.

The commission frames the shift as an upgrade, not a restriction. Its spokesperson said the regulation is "about improving replacement tires, not eliminating them, to match the efficiency of tires that already exist when you get a new car." That framing treats every tire below the new standard as a subpar product consumers should be glad to see gone.

For a household budgeting $324 for a set of four tires at current average prices, the commission's position amounts to this: spend more now, save on gas later, and trust Sacramento's math. For families already priced out of California's housing market, fuel costs, and grocery bills, that ask lands differently than it does in a policy brief. The kind of disconnect between political insiders and everyday Americans has become a defining fault line in national politics.

When unelected officials earning over $166,000 a year vote to make life more expensive for the people who can least afford it, and face no ballot-box consequences for doing so, the resignation demand starts to sound less like political theater and more like common sense.