The rise in tax - one US cent per gallon - would fund research into alternative fuels. Also included in the plan would be a requirement for in industries to report, for the first time, their greenhouse gas emissions, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The proposals are part of a trend by state governments to step up to environmental challenges in the absence of any concerted effort by the White House, which has been reluctant to admit the existence of global warming and refuses to join the UN Kyoto protocol.
Schwarzenegger has made the development of environmentally friendly policies a cornerstone of his administration, announcing a major push to create a hydrogen distribution system for fuel cell cars.
In June, he told a UN environmental conference in San Francisco that he hopes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to year 2000 levels by 2010; lower emissions to 1990 levels by 2020; and reduce emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.
Schwarzenegger's new plans might help achieve those goals, but they were strongly condemned by business interests who warned that they would increase the cost of doing business and drive companies out of state.
'Then you have a situation that is actually worse for global warming, with lesser environmental standards than California already has,' said Allan Zaremberg, president of the California Chamber of Commerce.
