To do all we can to get the Westside and Los Angeles moving again – and reduce air pollution and combat global warming – I have just introduced six bills in the Assembly. In several cases a common theme is “local control†– putting our community in the driver’s seat by conferring the power to raise local dollars for local crucial transportation projects, including extensions of the subway and the Exposition light rail line.
We all know the problem: Our streets and freeways are bursting at the seams. Over the next 25 years, 3 million more people will be born in Los Angeles – that’s a city the size of Chicago added to the 10 million people already living in our region. Our world class city cannot thrive with its current transportation system.
With near-record state and federal budget deficits, we won’t be able to count on significant infusions of new funding from Sacramento or Washington for some time. That’s why I decided to focus on giving voters here in L.A. the power to deal with our transportation future. Two bills would do just that.
AB 2321 would amend existing legislation to allow the MTA to place a proposal for a ½ cent sales tax before Los Angeles County voters. All the new revenue would go exclusively to new transportation projects in our region – enough funding to transform our lives, with a new subway, light rail, rapid bus, freeway upgrades and other vital projects. The potential magnitude of this proposal is difficult to overstate: Over 20 years, this tax would generate $20 billion; over 30 years, $30 billion.
AB 2558 would authorize the MTA to place a climate change mitigation fee before L.A. County voters. Assessed either at the pump or though a county-wide per-registered vehicle surcharge, this fee would also be exclusively attributable to sweeping transportation improvements in our County. It would generate $400-600 million annually.
I’ve also authored a proposed constitutional amendment, again to empower local communities to shape future transportation projects. ACA 10 would lower the vote threshold for approval of bonds (and any tax increase associated with these bonds) for local transportation projects from a 2/3 vote of the people to a 55 percent threshold. I want a majority of the people to be able to move projects forward, instead of having a small minority hold up progress.
Other bills in this package would establish a task force to study alternatives to the gas tax that’s currently used to help fund transportation projects, change the formula for the statewide Vehicle License Fee to take account of vehicle weight and carbon emissions, and make it easier for local governments to create special districts in which the tax increment could be allocated to transportation projects.
My bills are designed to get us out of traffic and back home with our families, improve the economy and enhance our air quality by reducing carbon emissions.
I look forward to a future in which our people and goods can move safely and efficiently throughout our region. On Monday, April 14, the sales tax and carbon fee bills moved out of the Assembly Transportation Committee and I am working hard to ensure the success of these and my other transportation bills in the Legislature.
For more information, visit http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/members/a42/
