REPEAL EFFORT THREATENS CA TRANSPORTATION

additional 500 bridges repaired or replaced; an additional 55,000 culverts and drains repaired; and an additional 7,700 signals, signs and sensors repaired or replaced.

Opponents of SB 1 say that the funding package’s new fees and taxes are not necessary and only add more cost to driving in a state that already has some of the highest gas prices in the nation. They also believe that the state has squandered transportation funds in the past, spending the money in other areas and not on roads and infrastructure.

A new battle is brewing, as Assemblyman Travis Allen, R-Huntington Beach recently filed paperwork seeking a 2018 ballot measure to overturn SB 1. The California Repeal Gas Tax and Fees Increase Bill Initiative may appear on the ballot as an initiated state statute Nov. 8, 2018. It must first, however, clear several hurdles before reaching the ballot box. This included a July 10 deadline to submit proper paperwork to the State Attorney General’s office, followed by a January 8, 2018 deadline to gather 365,880 voter signatures. If all of the qualifications are met within 131 days of the election date, then the measure would make the November 2018 ballot.

The Fix Our Roads coalition is made up of business, labor and transportation groups that helped to promote the SB 1 transportation funding package, and they are also in opposition of any measure designed to repeal such legislation. They recently released a statement saying,

“Passing the transportation funding and accountability package was an example of addressing the important issues Californians care deeply about. Californians are tired of driving on potholed, unsafe roads, stuck in traffic. .. We know voters strongly support increasing funding for transportation improvements, especially when that includes constitutional protections and accountability requirements that ensure funds are allocated exclusively for transportation.”

If successful, the measure would repeal most sections of Senate Bill 1. For many, the question that remains is, regardless of what has been done in the past, transportation infrastructure in the state is in desperate need of replacement and repair and SB 1 provides some of the revenue that is needed to keep up with the nearly 400,000 lane miles here in California. Keeping California moving is not a partisan issue, or at least it should not be. The important thing is that everyone works together to keep California moving forward.