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California Gas Tax Repeal To Appear On November Ballot

The initiative to repeal SB-1, commonly referred to as the California Gas Tax, has exceeded the number of signatures necessary to secure a spot on the ballot this November.


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On April 28, 2017, the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017 was signed into law. The bill promised to generate an annual average of 5.2 billion dollars through increased gas taxes and vehicle fees in order to fund road maintenance and reconstruction projects, among other things.

One year later, a petition to repeal the controversial California Gas Tax has gathered more than 800,000 signatures and is currently in the process of being submitted for a vote during the next election.

Reform California, the political action committee responsible for organizing the petition, is determined to, “fight wasteful spending in state and local government – and ensure that savings are put back into the services that Californians need,” according to their website.

State Senator Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, a longtime critic of the gas tax, has expressed his support of the repeal initiative.

When asked about what happens after it gets repealed, Wilk said he hoped the majority party would work on a new funding solution that would not hurt residents’ wallets.

“I think if (Democrats) don’t want to see the bill defeated at the ballot again, they’ll be smart and work with the other party,” he said.  He also criticized the amount of money California democrats have spent in an effort to shape public opinion about SB-1.

Opponents of the gas tax insist that Californians already pay too much in taxes, and that only a fraction of funding generated from the bill will actually be used to fix roads, with estimates ranging from 20 to 60 percent.

A 2017 report by the Legislative Analyst’s Office broke down the funding of the bill, with 1.9 billion dedicated to highway maintenance and 1.7 billion for local street maintenance. The rest of the funds are divided into various transportation programs, research and planning grants.

Appearing alongside the repeal initiative this November will be Proposition 69, which would set restrictions on how certain funds from SB1 can be spent. The proposition targets more than one billion dollars which would otherwise have been spent on grants and transportation programs and requires that they be spent on public streets, highways, and transportation systems.

“To be fair, we have some of the same concerns as everybody else, that the money be spent properly. Prop 69 will protect funds to be used only for transportation,” said Victor Lindenheim, Executive Director for the Golden State Gateway Coalition, a group of community and business leaders focused on restoring Interstate 5 in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Lindenheim claims that his organization was set to a receive a 247 million dollar grant to refurbish the 5 by the Trade Corridor Enhancements Program, one of the programs created by SB-1. Lindenheim claims that if the gas tax is repealed, they risk losing their grant.

When the gas tax was first passed, votes fell largely along party lines, with three exceptions. Republican Senator Anthony Cannella voted in favor of the bill and democratic Senator Steve Glazer voted against it along with Assemblymember Rudy Salas.

California Democrats argued that roads and highways were in desperate need of funding and that inflation over the years had diminished the value of the the previous gas tax, which had been set in 1994.

In order to prevent the diminution from continuing to occur, SB-1 includes inflation adjustment on the gas tax beginning in 2020.

The bill also tasks Caltrans, the state transportation department, with meeting very specific goals. By 2027, the department must fix 500 of the state’s bridges and ensure that at least 98 percent of all highway pavement in the state is in good or fair condition.

Caltrans must also drastically increase efficiency while doing this, as they are expected to produce 100 million in savings every year. Annual reports on their progress must be submitted to the California Transportation Commission.

However, many opponents of the bill are skeptical that the department is up for the task, pointing to the fact that a detailed plan on how to attain those savings has yet to be finalized.

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California Gas Tax Repeal To Appear On November Ballot

3 comments

  1. Finally, the people are fighting back against Jerry Brown and his Gas Tax “to fix our roads”.
    We know exactly where that money would end up, right into the wasteful money drain we
    call Jerry’s idiotic “Train to Nowhere”! After all, his train, which is already into many cost
    overruns, actually fits into the gas tax law since it is part of “Transportation”. Brown needs
    these BILLIONS to get his “legacy” off the ground.

  2. Governor Brown will be gone forever (I hope) when he is termed out in January 2019. He will live out his life in his 2500 acre ranch up north.

  3. WTF are they doing with the $$$$$ they already get???? Standard response is, “cost increases.” It’s BS. I work in State of CA gov’t. it’s a mess. Fight this tax.

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About Juan Carlos Lara