A California Senate committee has approved a measure that would increase the state’s gas tax by 12 cents per gallon as a means of addressing California’s transportation crisis.
The new fuel levy, passed on Wednesday, Aug. 19, would be California’s first tax hike since 1994, the San Jose Mercury News reported. It would be collected in addition to the state’s current 42 cents-per-gallon tax and an 18.4 cents-per-gallon federal tax. Along with legislation that would raise vehicle registration fees by $35 each year per car, the state would generate $4 billion per year for repairs. Fees for all-electric vehicles would also increase $100.
While the Senate committee advanced the transportation tax bill in a 9-2 party-line vote, tax and fee hikes require a two-thirds approval in both houses. How Democrat and Republican state lawmakers decide to work together to repair California’s deteriorating roads will unfold throughout the next few weeks.
“We don’t want to dump the cost of our horribly maintained infrastructure on the next generation – it will be too late to solve the problem if we delay,” said Sen. Jim Beall (D-Campbell), whose transportation tax bill passed the committee in a 9-2 vote.
At an Aug. 19 news conference, California Gov. Jerry Brown urged bipartisan cooperation in tackling the reparation of the state’s transportation infrastructure but did not explicitly say how he wants it to get done.
“My approach to bringing people together is not to prematurely close the door,” Brown said, according to San Jose Mercury News. “I’m not going to put all my cards on the table this morning.
“This is a big challenge. How we’re going to get to the end of it isn’t exactly clear this morning.”
Some GOP lawmakers have indicated they are willing to support the gas tax hike on the condition that revenue is used only for transportation improvements.
Each year, the federal government spends about $50 billion on transportation projects, but the current gas tax only generates $34 billion annually.
The week before the committee approved the transportation bill, business organizations including the California Chamber of Commerce and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group said any solution should strive to collect a minimum of $6 billion per year through gas and diesel tax hikes, and by boosting license and vehicle registration fees.
President and CEO of the Bay Area Council Jim Wunderman proposed indefinitely extending the quarter-cent sales tax provision of Proposition 30, which was approved to help California’s schools, and directing funds toward transportation needs. Revenue from this portion of Proposition 30 would amount to approximately $1.5 billion annually.
California is the latest state to consider boosting its gas tax in recent years, as federal transportation funding has become limited.
In addition to transportation legislation, lawmakers in a separate panel on Aug. 19 approved measures aimed at solving California’s health crisis, including raising the legal smoking age to 21, regulating e-cigarettes and permitting counties to put local tobacco taxes on the ballot, Mercury News reported. (with reports from San Jose Mercury News and The Hill)
