SBX8 6 - Fixing the Gas Tax Swap
No. of Jobs
18,000
Category
Invest state and federal funds to create jobs
Proposal
This legislation will fix the Governor’s proposed “gas tax swap” to maintain the state’s investment in transportation infrastructure and maintain thousands of transportationrelated jobs.
Summary
The bill will maintain the state’s current level of investment in its transportation system by rejecting the Governor’s proposal to eliminate $1 billion in state investment. The bill will continue a state commitment to public transit and provide a growing source of transportation funding.
Background
The Governor’s proposed gas tax swap has the effect of permanently eliminating funding to operate public transit systems in California. This approach will cost the state jobs. Recent budgetary actions decimated funding for public transit, forcing operators up and down the state to cut service and raise fares. The Governor now proposes to make those cuts permanent by eliminating the sales tax on gasoline - the only major source of state funding to operate public transit. The Governor's proposal does not reinvest these funds. The net effect is a $1 billion cut to the state’s investment in transportation. With every $1 billion invested in transportation infrastructure creating or saving some 15,000 jobs, his plan means more mechanics and bus drivers will lose their jobs as services are cut.
This legislation provides a smarter transportation funding policy. It maintains a state commitment to fund public transit (including some $350 million per year for transit operators throughout California), to improve and rehabilitate the state highway system, to improve neighborhood streets, to pay transportation bond debt, and to ensure bonds get sold so projects are built. This plan won’t eliminate $1 billion in transportation funding. This will preserve about $1.2 billion for transportation infrastructure and save some 18,000 jobs in California.
Description of Transportation Package