SACRAMENTO: California’s transportation funding backlog, Gov. Jerry Brown has begun circulating a list of administration proposals on how to pay for it, including a $65 annual fee for drivers and increases in the diesel and gas taxes tied to inflation.A one-page “transportation package” released Thursday calls for $3.6 billion a year for repairs to California’s crumbling transportation infrastructure.
The $65 charge would generate $2 billion a year, while $500 million would come from fees charged to polluters and $100 million from so-called “efficiencies” at Caltrans, which the independent state legislative analyst has said is overstaffed.While transportation, business and transit advocacy groups responded enthusiastically to the proposal, the Democratic governor did not appear to have secured the votes needed for a two-thirds majority in each house of the state Legislature, even from Democrats.
Still, advocates urged lawmakers to reach a compromise before the Legislature is set to leave Sacramento on Sept. 11.”The conditions are getting so bad that if Californians don’t commit to prioritizing funding to fix them, we will be facing the failure of a large portion of our bridges, streets and roads,” said Chris McKenzie, executive director of the League of California Cities, in a statement. “It is well past time for the Legislature to act.”
A coalition of labor unions, local government groups and influential business groups, including the California Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable, had previously outlined a plan that called for $6 billion a year in spending for 10 years. Brown spokesman Gareth Lacy said in an email that the administration offered its proposal Thursday after numerous meetings with Democrats and Republicans.
