SACRAMENTO >> Key lawmakers and the governor’s office have reached a major road-repair deal to tackle a formidable backlog of neglected potholes on California roadways with new gas taxes and vehicle registration fees.
The 2 p.m. unveiling of the agreement — which would raise $5 billion annually through a 12-cent-per-gallon gas tax increase plus new vehicle registration fees, according to sources briefed on the deal — follows years of debate over how to pay to fix the ever-growing number of chewed-up streets and compromised bridges. The cost of repairs has ballooned to $59 billion for state highways and $78 billion for local roads, estimates Sen. Jim Beall — a San Jose Democrat who is carrying a bill to raise $5.6 billion per year for road fixes.
“Each year as we don’t deal with it, it gets larger and larger,” said Randy Iwasaki, executive director of the Contra Costa Transportation Authority.
The issue is shaping up to be the first real test of how far the Democrats are able to leverage the new legislative supermajority they gained after the November election, as any tax measure requires approval from two-thirds of each house.
Previous efforts to raise the gas tax — now at about $0.28 per gallon — have failed, but transportation officials and millions of drivers throughout the state are watching the latest push closely. Many are hoping for a breakthrough this time, in a non-election year — and after the February evacuation of communities near the Oroville Dam exposed the risks of neglecting the state’s aging infrastructure.
The agreement, sources say, includes accountability measures and an oversight office to ensure the money is spent on transportation and not diverted to other state priorities, as has happened in the past.
“It is needed in the worst way in San Jose,” said Jim Ortbal, the city’s director of transportation. A quarter of the city’s roads have fallen into poor condition, he said, because San Jose doesn’t have adequate funding to keep them up.
Ray Ruiz, a bail bondsman who traverses the Bay Area in his Toyota Camry, said the roads are so bad he has actually taken to wearing mouth guards on unfamiliar streets to protect his tongue — a safety precaution he adopted after one excruciating clash with a pothole “that was more like a trench.” Ruiz estimates he drives upwards of 250 miles per day, so he knows he will pay more than the average Californian if the tax is hiked. But he supports the idea anyway.
“The way the roads are now, I’m afraid to drive,” he said. “I have a daughter who drives and I worry about her driving with the road conditions the way they are.”
The deal hammered out between the governor’s office, leaders of the Senate and Assembly, Beall, and Assemblyman Jim Frazier, D-Oakley, likely will be plunked into Beall’s pending proposal, Senate Bill 1, which has already cleared three Senate committees. Sources briefed on the agreement say it is likely to also include an annual vehicle registration fee set on a sliding scale, based on the cost of the vehicle, as well as a fee for electric vehicles.
The state administration and the Legislature have set a deadline of April 6 for approving the transportation deal, before the Legislature adjourns for a week-long spring recess — and before state budget negotiations consume the Capitol.
Cities and counties, labor unions and business groups have formed the Fix Our Roads Coalition to promote Beall’s bill — which, like the deal, also proposes a 12-cent-per-gallon gas tax increase and a fee for electric vehicles. They argue the state needs to create an adequate funding stream to maintain roads, funded mainly by drivers, so that costly and dangerous backlogs don’t pile up in the first place.
Gov. Jerry Brown in January offered an alternative, though similar, proposal that would add $4.3 billion annually for transportation for 10 years.
Assembly Republicans — who say the state should better manage the car-related tax revenue it already has — went on the offensive Wednesday, posting a video critical of the Democrats’ proposal.
The GOP caucus has advanced its own proposal, carried by Assemblyman Vince Fong, R-Bakersfield. Assembly Bill 496 would pay for road repairs without raising taxes by redirecting money from such sources as vehicle sales taxes and insurance to road repairs, rather than on other state priorities.
But challenges to Beall’s proposal aren’t coming only from the right. Some environmental, public transit and bicycle-advocacy groups point out that SB 1, as written, would spend the lion’s share of the revenue on driving infrastructure. They have called for amendments to increase spending on public transportation, clean energy and transit projects to improve mobility for the poor — whom, they say, would be greatly burdened by such a tax.
In a letter last month to Beall, 75 organizations requested amendments such as prioritizing projects that reduce driving. While the bill includes some important elements, it said, “we still strongly believe that funding for our roads must be balanced with investments in a future transportation system that protects our environment, promotes social and economic justice, and improves our communities.”
