Rough road

What in the world is going on with the state Legislature’s special session on California’s transportation needs? The shabby state of California’s roads isn’t a new subject for our state leaders.

In 2015, Gov. Jerry Brown asked the Legislature to create a funding plan for basic repairs and maintenance of California’s extensive road and highway system. The current fuel excise tax funds only $2.3 billion worth of work, and California has $5.7 billion in unfunded work every year. Nothing’s happened. Hearings have been held, for sure. Studies — like the 2015 one by national nonprofit the Road Information Program showing that 74 percent of the roads in the San Francisco-Oakland area are in poor condition — were noted.

Yet the state Legislature hasn’t acted. And while the special session technically runs through Nov. 30, it’s unlikely that lawmakers will work past the current legislative session ending Wednesday. Beyond that point, they tend to get distracted by small things like campaigning for contested election issues or running for office themselves.

State Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose, and Assemblyman Jim Frazier, D-Oakley, have introduced companion bills that would raise the gas tax by 17 cents a gallon (30 cents a gallon for diesel) and collect an annual fee on electric vehicles. The proceeds would give California $7.4 billion per year for badly needed transportation projects.

Brown hasn’t asked for that much money, and legislators have indicated that the tax increases are unlikely to garner any Republican votes for the necessary two-thirds approval.

So right now it just looks like the state Legislature won’t pass any fix at all. Which, as any California driver can say, is a guaranteed pitfall.