In a just-released survey by the nonprofit TRIP, among U.S. urban areas exceeding 500,000 population, my city of San Diego is tied nationally for having the 7th worst city road conditions. Californians will be disappointed (but not surprised) to find that four of the six large population areas that are ranked even worse than San Diego are also located in the Golden State. An “Olympic” state, California sweeps the “top” three spots in road disrepair. Great.
http://www.tripnet.org/docs/Urban_Roads_National_TRIP_Release_07-23-15.php
What makes these rankings particularly galling is that California gouges us for the nation’s second highest total gasoline tax — which most people foolishly think is dedicated to road building and repair. Would that it were so!
TECHNICAL NOTE: The American Petroleum Institute, which tracks these state figures month to month, lists California as “only” the 4th worst state, a modest improvement as the state just reduced the road tax 6 cents/gallon to adjust for prices. But because the infamous CA “cap and trade” tax is not directly added at the pump and is hard to give a solid figure to, it is not counted among the gas taxes by API. Clearly it’s a “pass through” corporate tax which MUST be added on at the pump. At 10 to 12 cents/gallon, California’s unique C&T tax makes California a solid #2, behind only Pennsylvania.
http://www.api.org/oil-and-natural-gas-overview/industry-economics/fuel-taxes/gasoline-tax
The magnitude of this state road mismanagement has FINALLY caught the attention of the Governor and the Democrats in the state legislature. Oddly enough, they acted like it was no problem until JUST after they passed their budget in June for the year (and by that I quite literally mean the DEMOCRAT budget — no Republican input was even sought), crowing about some imaginary surplus. Then BOOM — suddenly we need special legislation to (“regrettably”) raise taxes for the roads — road repair that SHOULD have been in the budget, but somehow was “overlooked.”
Now the issue is whether or not the legislature can unilaterally impose the tax — which requires a 2/3 vote (the governor has already indicated he’ll actively support any such increase). If they can’t pass the tax via the legislature, surely it will be put before the voters as an initiative, but that’s hardly a slam dunk — California voters oppose most taxes on THEMSELVES.
To get the needed 2/3 vote, the Democrats need two or three RINO’s in each legislative house to cave. I think they have a good chance of getting enough weak Republicans to vote for the higher taxes “out of necessity,” but I’d love to be proven wrong. The GOP leadership MIGHT make the case to support the tax IF the the agreement included recommitting the existing gas tax for roads as well (right now most is NOT spent on roads). Sadly, some slimy, unenforceable version of this requirement might once again fool the gullible Republicans, but we can hope otherwise.
Here’s two good commentaries on this topic:
http://calwatchdog.com/2015/07/26/still-no-plan-fix-cas-crumbling-roads/
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2015/jul/25/fixing-roads-gop-support-for-tax-hike-comes-with/