A statewide transportation package that proponents say will put $52 billion over the coming decade toward repairing California’s roads and improving public transit passed the State Legislature late Thursday night.
SB 1 will raise more than $5 billion annually through a number of avenues, including a $0.12-per-gallon increase to gas tax, phased in over three years; a 20-cent increase to the diesel excise tax; a $38 increase to the vehicle registration fee; a $100 vehicle registration fee on zero emission vehicles; $300 million from existing cap and trade funds; and returning $500 million in vehicle weight fees phased in over five years.
The bill has faced opposition from the Legislature’s Republicans, who couldn’t muster enough votes to prevent its passage.
Senate Republican Leader Jean Fuller (R-Bakersfield) called it “the largest gas tax hike in California’s history.”
“It is deeply disappointing that legislative Democrats chose to punish Californians with tax increases after neglecting our roads for years,” Fuller said. “This out of touch plan will particularly hurt Californians struggling to make ends meet and give us all less than we deserve.”
Fuller had signed on as a co-author to Assembly Bill 496, introduced by Assemblyman Vince Fong (R-Kern County), vice chair of the Transportation Committee, which she said was a better solution.
State Sen. Mike McGuire, a co-author of the bill whose district includes Lake County, lauded the bill’s passage.
“Our communities are home to some of the worst roads in the state, we can’t keep kicking the can down the crumbling road. Tonight’s vote to approve this critical transportation funding package was a long overdue step,” said McGuire. “Advancing a tax increase is never easy, especially for California residents who have to foot the bill, but we have a transportation funding crisis. Our roads, highways and bridges are literally falling apart and tens of millions of California commuters, businesses and travelers have literally been paying the price for the lack of action.”
McGuire said the transportation funding package will provide cities and counties with significant annual revenue streams to make local infrastructure improvements like rebuilding and paving local roads and streets and bridge repair.
He said strict accountability is included to ensure funds are only spent on transportation – essentially placing funds in a lock box – and by passing a constitutional amendment to prohibit spending the funds on anything but transportation.
Every billion dollars spent on transportation infrastructure, creates 14,000 full-time jobs, McGuire said.
McGuire said Lake County – the county government as well as the cities of Clearlake and Lakeport – is expected to receive approximately $3,763,000 annually from the bill, or $37.6 million over the next decade.
Other counties in McGuire’s district will receive the following amounts:
– Del Norte: $1,475,000 annually;
– Humboldt: $7,732,000 annually;
– Marin: $9,732,000 annually;
– Mendocino: $5,568,000 annually;
– Sonoma: $20,739,000 annually;
– Trinity: $2,300,000 annually.
SB 1 now moves to the desk of Gov. Jerry Brown, where it’s expected to be signed. Brown came out in recent weeks as a strong proponent of the package.