CA legislator leaves the rescue of the bay area in a limb

From And WaltersCalmness

This comment was originally published by CalmattersS Register about their ballots.

Politicians tend to be prostitutes, postponing major political issues until they can no longer be ignored without political fall.

Accordingly, the last few days of each legislative session tend to be malathons of marathon meetings, strong debates and rear transactions.

So Again, again, a loan of $ 750 million again To financially linked public transport systems and accompanying legislation that would allow the bus and rail systems of San Francisco Bay to seek the approval of voters for a regional increase in sales tax.

In a sense, governor Gavin Newo is responsible for the financial pickle of systems since five years ago, when the pandemic of Kovid-19 struck, he issued distant orders to close companiesOr at least their employees work from home to reduce exposure to a deadly disease. Transit systems immediately saw a sharp decline in revenue from patronage and accessories.

They received some federal means to support but those Rescue eventually ended And the rider continued to lag behind the pandemic levels. As the pressure tightened, civil and political leaders in the Bay region began to press the state permission to put an increase in the transit tax on the newsletter in 2026. They also sought an immediate state rescue to maintain service.

The state budget, approved by legislators and Newsom in June, contained a loan permit of $ 750 million, although the budget had a deficit with many billion dollars. The $ 750 million figure appeared after an initial proposal to rescue $ 2 billion to split between systems in Northern California and Southern California, failed to win political grip.

The loan had to be finalized through additional legislation, determining conditions, including repayment and interest, if any. But over the next two months, which ended with the postponement of the legislature last week, the people who participate never agreed to the details.

Who did or did not do what remains a mystery. The Newsom administration and the legislators of the Bay area are blamed for completing the deal.

After all, just before postponement, Newsom said it would “offer short -term financial assistance To support Bay Area transit agencies with hundreds of millions of dollars, “but it did not give the right number.

“Transit is a rescue line for millions of Californians – and after billions of investment in the country, we continue to support Bay Area agencies with constant support, tailored to their needs,” Newsom said. “We will continue to partner with them now and next year, by inciting flexible funding tools to their deadlines, so we can deliver a sustainable, which is the first transit system.”

In the meantime Senate Bill 63was betrayed. But the story doesn’t end there.

As it is now structured, the sales tax of transit-Polovin Cent in four districts and a full cent in San Francisco will require the approval of voters by a majority of two-thirds. But defenders may strive to make the tax promotion of the newsletter through a petition for an initiative, Which will then require only a passage with a simple set.

At the heart of the maneuvering for Bay Area transit maintenance is the assumption of civil servants that transit will play a major role in the Crusade of the State to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2045, in order to fulfill this role, transit operators will need very large, current injections of funds A new study showsS

California Political Center, Conservative Brain Trust, examined the finances of the 85 transit systems in California using Federal Transit Administration dataS He found that the systems overall raised $ 897 million in 2023, only 10% of its $ 8.76 billion operating costs. Costs increased faster than income – and this does not include capital expenses.

This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.