OFFICIALS START DRIVE TO CURB GAS PRICES LAWMAKERS PROPOSE ALASKAN EMBARGO, END OF GAS TAX.

Byline: Jason Z. Cohen  Staff Writer

CANOGA PARK - You don't have to tell Deborah Morgan that gas prices are going up quickly; she's reminded almost every day at work.

The 28-year-old mother of four pays as much as $100 a week to fill the tank of the car she uses to deliver pizza and other dinners for Bambino's Restaurant, a popular West Valley eatery.

``The prices keep skyrocketing, it's ridiculous,'' said Morgan, who pointed out that tips and delivery fees aren't increasing as quickly as gas prices.

``It's like they're cheating people out of their money,'' she said.

Being an election year, politicians across the state are jumping on the gas-price-bashing bandwagon.

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., on Thursday called for a moratorium on oil company mergers and a reinstatement of the prohibition on Alaskan oil exports in an effort to put a lid on rising gasoline prices.

In Sacramento, Assemblymen Tom McClintock, R-Granada Hills, and Tony Strickland, R-Camarillo, proposed the repeal of California's 8 percent gas tax, and urged their colleagues in Washington to repeal an 18-cent increase in the federal excise tax.

Strickland also vowed to pay back some taxpayers. The Ventura County assemblyman will be at a Chevron gas station in the 100 block of West Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks today to give customers the state tax back on any gas they buy.

All of this comes at a time when the cost of gasoline at California pumps rose by more than 28 cents from February to March alone, according to a study released this week by the Automobile Club of Southern California. The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular unleaded gas was $1.74.

Small businesses across the region are feeling the pinch of higher gasoline prices.

Ian Fagan, owner of Byrne Home Furnishings in Burbank, said the freight carriers that deliver furniture to his store from the factories in North Carolina have begun charging a surcharge of 4 percent on deliveries.

The freight carriers are attributing the charge directly to the increase in gasoline prices, Fagan said.

For now, he is holding the line on price, but he said he cannot do so forever.

``Eventually, you're going to have to reflect all of your increases in costs and pass it along to the customer,'' Fagan said. ``That's the way business is; if you want to make your margins, you're going to have to pass it on.''

Norman Artan, manager of MacEnerneys Stationers in Studio City, said his store also is holding the line on price increases.

``We have been paying for the gasoline our drivers use ourselves,'' he said.

Guy Starkman, vice president of operations at Studio City-based Jerry's Famous Deli Inc., said the company is feeling the impact of higher gas prices because it makes at least 100 deliveries a day across Southern California.

``We pay $6,000 to $10,000 per month for gasoline,'' Starkman said. ``It will hurt us, but our customers won't feel it. I can't add a dollar to a price of a sandwich.''

Boxer also called for the public release of secret corporate documents she said prove the companies' involvement in price discrimination. The documents are referenced in Federal Trade Commission filings and show a pattern of price discrimination against the West Coast, she said.

Oil companies have denied any price discrimination or price fixing.

Boxer sent a letter Thursday to FTC Chairman Robert Pitofsky asking the commission to demand two conditions before it approves the proposed merger between BP Amoco and Los Angeles-based Atlantic Richfield Co.: Release of the documents and a restriction on exports of oil produced in Alaska.

Boxer said she also plans to introduce legislation when the Senate reconvenes next week to restore the prohibition on exports of Alaskan oil. The ban, first put into place in the 1970s, was lifted in 1995.

Other federal lawmakers, including Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., are taking a different approach at the same goal, urging President Clinton to halt Alaskan exports by declaring an economic emergency. And still others, such as McClintock and Strickland, are calling for a repeal on federal taxes on gas.

Boxer said repealing the federal excise tax would hurt California.

``California would lose, in just two years, $1.7 billion in highway funds,'' Boxer said. ``It would be a total disaster.''

She proposed instead to place a moratorium on oil company mergers until the volatility in the price of oil eases.

``Clearly these mergers are responsible for higher prices,'' Boxer said Thursday. ``BP Amoco has been engaged in price manipulation, and it has adversely affected California consumers.''

- Staff Writer Chris Sieroty contributed to this story.

CAPTION(S):

Chart

Chart: PUMPED UP PRICES

Here's what adds up to the price consumers are paying for a gallon of regular, self-serve gas. The figures are based on a March 13 survey that pegged the statewide price at $1.739 a gallon with Alaskan crude oil costing $30.07 per barrel

SOURCE: California Energy Commission