On April 28, 2017, California Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill (SB) 1, the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017, a 10-year, $52.4 billion transportation investment bill financed partially by the first statewide gas tax increase in 23 years. The legislation increases the state gas tax by 12 cents-per-gallon and the diesel tax by 20 cents-per-gallon, with an additional 4 percent increase in the diesel sales tax, beginning Nov. 1, 2017. The act also creates a Transportation Improvement Fee based on a vehicle’s market value and implements a Zero-Emission Vehicle Fee of $100 for electric vehicles beginning in 2020.
There is an effort by some in California to repeal SB 1 and they are calling for the issue to be on the ballot in November 2018. Members of the California Republican Congressional delegation are considering formally supporting the repeal effort in hopes of increasing voter turnout and thereby, hopefully protecting all incumbent Republicans and increasing the number of Republicans in the House as well as other elected bodies.
AGC and the Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC) have joined with AGC of California, the San Diego Chapter of AGC and other transportation improvement allies in opposing this repeal effort. In letters to the California’s Congressional delegation, TCC expressed strong opposition to such an effort and encouraged individual members of the delegation to also oppose it. The letter points out that our nation’s transportation funding challenges are well documented and the only way to address them is to increase funding at all levels of government while also encouraging greater private investment where appropriate. The letter also says, “Repeal of SB 1 is ill advised and ignores the transportation infrastructure needs of California.”
For more information, please contact Brian Deery at [email protected] or (703) 837-5319.