Newsom Ends California's Summer Gas Blend Early and Signs Menu Sugar Warnings; Colorado Puts a Right to Natural Gas on the Ballot

The bottom line today

California’s summer gasoline rules were due to run until October 31 in most of the state. As of Monday’s letter from Gov. Newsom, they don’t [2]. The suspension lets refiners and importers sell winter-blend fuel now, and the governor’s own letter names who benefits first: farmers paying more “to grow our food” and truckers paying more “to get it to market” [2]. That is a cost cut, and it gets credit here. The same day, he signed SB 869, which adds a cost: sugar warnings on chain restaurant drink menus [3, 4]. In Colorado, voters will decide whether natural gas belongs in the state constitution [6]. New York, for once, created a rebate instead of a mandate [7, 8].

CA California: Newsom suspends the summer-blend gasoline rule a month early

What it does. Citing Health and Safety Code section 43830.5, the governor suspended the regulatory control periods during which gasoline above California’s summer vapor pressure limits may not be sold, “effective immediately” [2]. He directed the Air Resources Board to give notice so winter-blend gasoline can be “manufactured, imported, distributed, and sold in California immediately,” and told the Department of Food and Agriculture to notify fuel suppliers, transporters and retailers [2]. His office says the Legislature provided this authority in SB 237 (Grayson, 2025) [1]. He also directed the Energy Commission, with CARB and the Division of Petroleum Market Oversight, to publish a regular public spot-market report for gasoline and diesel from aggregated, anonymized trading data, and to consider reporting renewable diesel prices separately [2].

Where it stands. In effect as of September 28 [2]. CARB is to report on air quality impacts and possible mitigation funding ahead of the governor’s January 10 budget [2].

Pratt’s read. The governor’s case for the summer rules is in the same letter: they “play an important role in protecting the air we breathe,” and he calls this “not a standing promise” of an early switch whenever prices rise [2]. Fair enough. But every fleet operator, grower and distributor in the state pays for fuel, and the letter is the state conceding that its own specification carries a price at the pump. Neither the letter nor the release estimates how many cents a gallon the switch saves [1, 2].

The spot-market report deserves a closer look than the headline. The letter says it would draw on data California already receives under its fuel-market transparency laws [2]. A report built from existing filings is transparency without a new filing burden, and that is the right way to do it. Refiners should watch whether the “regular” report stays that way.

CA California SB 869: added-sugar icons on chain restaurant drink menus

What it does. SB 869, by Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson, applies to restaurant chains with 20 or more locations doing business under the same name and offering substantially the same menu items, including cafes and delis inside other retail stores [4]. A beverage with 50% or more of the FDA daily reference value for added sugar gets a sugar-cube-in-a-black-triangle icon next to it on the menu, by size where applicable, plus a point-of-selection statement explaining the icon [4]. Drive-through menus must carry it, and chains must offer the information on physical menus or digitally, with an alternative for customers who can’t use the digital version [4]. Prepackaged drinks, items on the menu fewer than 30 days a year, unsweetened customized drinks, alcohol and spoon-eaten frozen desserts are excluded [4]. Compliance is due by January 1, 2028, and violations fall under the Retail Food Code’s existing misdemeanor provision [4].

Where it stands. The Senate passed it 29-4 on May 27, the Assembly 56-11 on August 27, and the Senate concurred 32-0 the next day [4]. Signed September 28, Chapter 723 [3, 4].

Pratt’s read. The sponsor, the American Diabetes Association, says the bill “does not restrict choice, it simply ensures transparency” and notes that sugary drinks are the leading source of added sugar in American diets [4]. That is the strongest version of the case, and it is accurate as far as it goes.

The cost falls on the menu board. The California Restaurant Association and the California Fuels and Convenience Alliance argued that “menu labelling mandates add tremendous costs, which are passed on to guests,” and asked to let chains post the sugar information through QR codes [4]. The Latino Restaurant Association warned of “costly menu redesigns, reprinting, and operational changes” [4]. The American Beverage Association and the California Grocers Association also opposed [4]. A chain with 20 locations is often a franchise group, not a national brand. The Assembly’s appropriations analysis found only “minor and absorbable” state costs; nobody in the record put a number on the restaurants’ side [4]. The 2028 date at least gives operators a reprint cycle or two.

The same signing package also created a voluntary “Non-Ultraprocessed Certified” food label under AB 2244 [3]. Voluntary is the right word for a food label.

CO Colorado Amendment 82: a constitutional right to buy and sell natural gas

What it does. Amendment 82, placed on the ballot by citizen initiative, would add Section 17 to Article XVIII of the Colorado Constitution: consumers “have the right to purchase natural gas for cooking or heating in homes or businesses throughout the state,” and distributors and utilities “have the right to sell natural gas for homes or businesses” [6]. The text is two sentences long [6].

Where it stands. On the November 3 ballot; as a constitutional amendment it needs 55% of the vote [6]. If approved, it takes effect on the governor’s proclamation within 30 days of the official canvass [5].

Pratt’s read. The nonpartisan Blue Book lays out the background. The Public Utilities Commission in December 2025 required investor-owned gas utilities to file plans for a 41% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2035 compared to 2015, and some towns have restricted gas in new construction; Crested Butte now requires new homes to use electricity for heating and hot water [6]. Staff conclude the measure “may limit the ability for state or local governments to enforce existing or future regulations related to natural gas” [6].

That is the point for a restaurant kitchen, a greenhouse or a plant that runs process heat on gas. A right in the constitution is harder to chip away by building code than a statute. The opposing argument in the Blue Book is that gas use contributes to climate change and air pollution, and that local communities should decide their own energy, climate and public health priorities [6]. The local-control point carries weight on its own terms: two sentences in the constitution leave the courts to decide what “the right to purchase” covers, and Legislative Council staff expect added workload and legal services for the PUC and other state agencies, and costs for local governments that have to conform their building codes [5, 6]. Staff did not put a dollar figure on any of it [5].

NY New York A2657A: rebates for battery landscaping equipment

What it does. A2657A, sponsored by Assemblymember Steven Otis and Sen. Liz Krueger, creates a point-of-sale rebate program “within existing appropriations” for new battery-powered mowers, trimmers, leaf blowers, chainsaws, snow blowers and related batteries and chargers [7, 8]. Eligible buyers are commercial landscaping businesses, governments, school districts, schools, universities and nonprofits; corded equipment, reel mowers and tractors are excluded [8]. Amounts are set by the administering authority’s rules, due within 270 days, and rebates go first come, first served until a year’s money runs out [8].

Where it stands. Passed the Senate 52-10 in April and was signed September 28 as Chapter 308 [8]. It takes effect immediately and expires January 1, 2036 [8].

Pratt’s read. The sponsors’ goal is cleaner air and less noise, and Otis says the program should make equipment “more affordable for local contractors” [7]. A landscaper decides whether to switch; nobody is ordered to. That is how a state should pursue an equipment change. The catch is in “within existing appropriations”: the bill sets no dollar amount, so the size of the program depends on what the authority finds in its budget [8].

On the calendar

Colorado mails ballots October 2 through October 9, and Amendment 82 is decided November 3 [6]. California’s summer-blend season would have ended October 31; CARB’s air quality report is due before the January 10 budget [2]. SB 869’s menu icons are required by January 1, 2028 [4]. New York’s rebate rules are due within 270 days of A2657A taking effect, and the program runs until January 1, 2036 [8].