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As California gas prices soar 鈥� reaching a per-gallon average of $5.90 last week 鈥� lawmakers are trying with pricey proposals to assist drivers. Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to give car owners $400 per car for up to two vehicles, at a cost of $9 billion.

Yet at the same time, California is investing billions to pry people out of their gas-thirsty cars and trucks. combating climate change, the state offers to knock thousands off the price of a Chevy Bolt or Nissan Leaf. The governor pledged , and has even made a commitment to in California by 2035.

Sending money to car owners would work at cross purposes with the state鈥檚 climate goals in response to a political moment, said Danny Cullenward, policy director for CarbonPlan, a nonprofit climate-research organization. 鈥淚t is not a policy that rises to the moment in addressing income inequality or climate,鈥� he said.

So is the state engaged in a multi-billion dollar contradiction here? Would a payout for car owners essentially undercut the state鈥檚 climate efforts?

鈥淚 actually think it doesn鈥檛, because of the way this is structured,鈥� said Severin Borenstein, an economist and director of the Haas Energy Institute at UC Berkeley. Californians who get a check or debit card could use it for anything, said Borenstein. So long as gas prices are high, drivers still have an incentive to try to buy less gas and spend the state payment buying other goods.

What鈥檚 important, he said, is that this proposal doesn鈥檛 try to substantially drive down the price of gasoline 鈥� as suspending the gas tax entirely, which Republicans are calling for, would. Cheaper gas would encourage people to use more gas, and 鈥渢hat definitely undermines our environmental goals,鈥� he said. He would have rather seen the payment targeted at lower income people though, 鈥渋nstead of people who own cars, many of whom are not struggling financially.鈥�

The advantage of doing flat checks or debit cards, rather than cutting the gas tax to reduce the price, is that the checks don鈥檛 get bigger if you drive more, or smaller if you drive less, said Jesse Rothstein, a professor of public policy and economics at UC Berkeley, and faculty director of the California Policy Lab. In other words, they don鈥檛 change the incentives around how much gas people use.

Already, increasing gas prices have driven more people to , but drivers looking to make the switch , thanks to supply chain delays and pent up demand.

Under Newsom鈥檚 proposal, owners of electric vehicles would also receive the $400 debit cards, and the payments are part of a broader package, including:

• $750 million in grants to incentivize public transit agencies to make rides free for three months
• $500 million for walking and biking lanes and other infrastructure
• Funds to reduce or pause certain gas and diesel taxes
• The acceleration of $1.75 billion in funding for a .

Still, some environmental advocates wanted to see lawmakers do much more to speed the shift away from gas-powered cars.

RL Miller, a member of the Democratic National Committee and founder of Climate Hawks Vote, said she recognized that gas prices were hurting people and appreciated that the governor鈥檚 package included funding for transit and biking and walking projects. But she wanted a larger share of the total package spent on non-car transit.

Out of Newsom鈥檚 $11 billion proposal, about 80% would pay for sending debit cards to car owners, while about 7% would go to public transit agencies and 4.5% would go toward walking and biking infrastructure.

Miller would have preferred California address rising gas prices by offering a generous reward to people willing to ditch their gas-guzzlers 鈥� a 鈥榗ash for clunkers鈥� program 鈥� as well as a commitment to hasten the date by which California will ban the sale of gas-powered cars.

鈥淚f you couple these long-term investments with the short-term gas card rebate silliness that they鈥檙e talking about,鈥� Miller said, 鈥渢hen I would consider that acceptable.鈥�

A spokesperson for the Newsom administration said the proposal isn鈥檛 a 鈥渢his or鈥� approach, it鈥檚 鈥渢his and.鈥� 鈥淲e know the long-term goal is to get people off oil,鈥� said Erin Mellon, a spokesperson for the governor. 鈥淏ut in the short term, we need to do something to bring people relief who are feeling a lot of pain at the pump because of Putin鈥檚 war,鈥� she said.

鈥淪ending people $400 checks and saying 鈥榮orry gas prices are so high, I hope this helps,鈥� isn鈥檛 the ideal message, said David Weiskopf, a senior policy advisor on climate and environmental issues at NextGen Policy, which advocates for progressive legislation. But he thinks relief payments, especially when the government has a large budget surplus, is appropriate.

There鈥檚 kind of a knee jerk reaction that says: 鈥榳hy are we rewarding vehicle ownership?鈥� he said. But he sees the policy as an attempt to reach lots of people who are in the DMV鈥檚 records, but who might not be reached by a program that distributes money based on whether they filed taxes, which is how income-based refunds often work. That includes some of the poorest Californians, who may not have to file state taxes. But, he said, he鈥檇 like to see the money also go to people with state IDs, to reach households that don鈥檛 own a car.

鈥淚t鈥檚 impressive how governments can react quickly to certain things 鈥� COVID, or high gasoline prices,鈥� said Ellie Cohen, CEO of the Climate Center. She was complimentary of elements of Newsom鈥檚 proposal, but would have liked to see the funds targeted at lower-income people. 鈥淲e鈥檙e just not going fast enough on climate change.鈥�

 is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.