Gas tax foes file proposal to kill high-speed rail
Proponents of Proposition 6, the measure to repeal California’s gas tax hike, filed a new ballot measure Tuesday that would torpedo Gov. Jerry Brown’s high-speed rail project and prevent the state from spending gas tax funds on mass transit.
“We’re very pleased with the accountability this measure provides,” said Carl DeMaio, a talk-radio host and chairman of the Prop. 6 campaign. He has accused the state’s Democratic establishment of wasting taxpayer money and unfairly burdening motorists — particularly working-class people who have long car com-
mutes.
In addition to killing Brown’s $77 billion plan to send bullet trains zipping from Southern California to downtown San Francisco, the initiative that DeMaio and others submitted Tuesday would mandate that all gas tax revenue go to roads. It would also dedicate the state’s sales tax on cars to all forms of transportation infrastructure, including public transit, require annual audits on road projects and shift decision-making power on gas and car tax revenue from the state Capitol to city and county governments.
Supporters say these changes — which would go on the ballot in November 2020 — would boost California’s annual road coffers from $5.2 billion to $7.5 billion, and increase funding for general transit infrastructure from $1.8 billion to $7.4 billion a year. Opponents call the measure a repackaging of Prop. 6, which would strike down the new 12-cent gasoline excise tax, vehicle fees and 20cents-per-gallon tax on diesel fuel signed into law last year as SB1.
If it survives, SB1 is expected to raise $5.2 billion annually to pave potholed highways, repair aging bridges and boost public transit. None of the money goes to high-speed rail.
“This proposal by DeMaio is a deeply flawed attempt to distract voters from his destructive Proposition 6, which would eliminate $5 billion in funding and jeopardize more than 6,500 bridge, road and transportation safety projects already under way all over California,” said Michael Quigley, executive director of the California Alliance for Jobs. His trade and labor coalition is leading the effort to defeat Prop. 6.
Quigley noted that the new ballot measure isn’t all that new — DeMaio cribbed the funding ideas from a proposal that Republican Assembly members introduced last year, intended as an alternative to SB1. Other lawmakers rejected the plan because it blocked gas tax money from flowing into the general fund, where it helps shore up schools, health care and public safety.
Republican Assemblyman Vince Fong of Bakersfield sponsored that ill-fated legislation. He’s now thrown support behind the new ballot measure.
“As the author of the alternative to the SB1 gas tax increase, I said over and over again that we can fully fund our roads without any fee or tax increases,” Fong said. “We need to give voters an opportunity to tell Sacramento they need to prioritize our transportation infrastructure with the tax dollars motorists already pay.”
The gas tax battle has played along partisan lines — and it isn’t solely about taxes. Prop. 6 is a rallying point to lure Republican voters out to the polls, in hope of bolstering gubernatorial candidate John Cox and GOP contestants in several key House races.
Ending high-speed rail is a centerpiece of Cox’s political agenda as well. And it’s a popular issue among GOP voters, many of whom would rather see more roads and highways than new infrastructure projects that are innovative but monumentally expensive, said Thomas Holyoke, a professor of political science at Fresno State University.
That might explain the pivot, Holyoke said.
“Part of this is aimed at voter turnout — particularly among Republicans in the San Joaquin Valley who have never liked high-speed rail,” Holyoke said. “It’s a way to fire up and possibly expand the Republican Party by showing that it’s part of resisting runaway spending and crazy taxes.”
Cox echoed those sentiments in an interview with The Chronicle for an upcoming “It’s All Political” podcast episode.
“Let’s end the train to nowhere,” he said. “It’s going to be three hours. It was supposed to be two hours. It’s being built where nobody is going to ride it. It’s 30-year-old technology. It’s not even current technology. It’s an incredible waste of money.”
California voters approved the high-speed rail plan in 2008. The San Francisco-Los Angeles line was then estimated to cost $32 billion. Now it is expected to cost $77 billion, with completion stretching into 2033.
DeMaio was upbeat about the new measure’s prospects, speaking to The Chronicle on Tuesday as he rode an Uber to the state Capitol. He said the campaign would gather voter signatures over the December holidays.
“I predict that in five to seven years people will be writing stories about a revolution in funding for California’s transportation infrastructure,” he said.