Road repairs: No new taxes required

Assemblymember Marie Waldron

AD 75 (R)

Providing a reliable transportation network is one of the primary responsibilities of state government. The budget for the 2015-2016 fiscal year increases spending by $7.5 billion, including funds for new social/welfare entitlements. At the same time however, this budget largely ignores basic infrastructure projects, which include long-delayed highway upgrades.

According to the estimates by the Southern California Association of Governments, future transportation improvements in Southern California alone are estimated at more than $500 billion over the next 20 years. Obviously, providing necessary funding to upgrade the state’s highway system has not been a top priority for many in Sacramento.

To deal with this crisis, Governor Brown has requested a special legislative session; calls for increased taxes are likely. In response, I am joining with my Republican colleagues to introduce proposals that fund badly-needed highway projects – without raising taxes.

These proposals include directing unallocated cap-and-trade dollars toward highway projects, which would generate about $1 billion. Millions more would become available through elimination of redundant Caltrans jobs and increased use of private contractors. Another $1 billion could be generated by re-allocating Vehicle Weight Fees, used to offset highway damage caused by heavy trucks, back to road projects as originally intended.

According to a recent study, California has the second-highest fuel tax in the nation but ranks 49^th in road quality. Obviously, our spending priorities have become entirely unrealistic. Increased revenues have led to new entitlements and bigger government, but essential infrastructure upgrades have been delayed, providing yet another excuse to raise taxes.