Gov. Jerry Brown kicked off 2016 optimistic on one policy area: After years of stalling, he said it was time for California to finally start making long-overdue repairs to its freeways and bridges.
In his January State of the State address, he told lawmakers they’d have to “bite the bullet and enact new fees and taxes” to pay for a $57 billion backlog in repairs to California’s crumbling state highway system.

So far, the Legislature has not taken up the Democratic governor’s plan to raise $3.6 billion annually for 10 years. Lawmakers also have not met in the special session on transportation the governor called last year, or heard two other Democratic transportation proposals.
“California’s aging transportation infrastructure seems to be a low priority for the governor,” Assembly Transportation Committee Chairman Jim Frazier of Oakley said in a press release last week after Brown released his revised budget.
The lack of action has left some questioning how committed the governor is to solving the transportation problem, which has gone untouched as he has this year taken up sentencing reform, signed a fix to California’s tax on health plans and reached a deal to raise the minimum wage.
“The short answer is yes, we’ve been consistent on this for over a year now,” the governor’s transportation secretary, Brian Kelly, said Tuesday. “We’re still trying to get some action in the Legislature.”

All three Democratic proposals include some form of higher taxes or fees, such as boosting the gas tax rate or adding annual road-user surcharges for electric vehicles that don’t pay into the gas tax fund. Republicans have balked at permanent taxes while California revenues have been on the rise. They want concessions like changes to the state’s complex environmental review process and revisions to how the start awards transportation contracts.
And what they want matters, since a two-thirds majority is needed to approve any tax increase in the state Legislature.
“It’s very clear it’s a problem that needs to be solved. I would say there’s almost universal agreement on that,” said Assemblyman Jay Obernolte, R-Big Bear Lake. “What we’re in disagreement on is where that money should come from.”
Republicans have urged one-time investments in infrastructure improvements, but Democratic leaders say a permanent, long-term funding source is needed.
The political back-and forth has left interest groups and local governments frustrated.
“Our biggest fear is that we’re going to solve this problem only after we get a bridge collapse. That’s our biggest fear. We’ve seen that in other states. When a bridge crumbles, you get some catastrophe and then you get the money,” said Matt Cate, executive director of the California State Association of Counties, one of several groups that have formed a coalition called Fix Our Roads.
The group also includes labor unions that stand to lose thousands of construction jobs for repair work and new projects. They plan to hold a rally at the state Capitol Thursday where they’ll present their own proposal merging Democratic and Republican ideas, Cate said.

In the meantime, the problem may get worse. California Transportation Commission staff members have recommended $754 million in cuts to planned road projects over the next five years, as revenues from the state’s gas tax have fallen along with gas prices. The commission will vote on that plan Wednesday.
Lawmakers in both parties also agree structural changes are needed, but approving a tax increase is a hard sell in an election year when incumbents would rather campaign on social welfare, affordable housing or just about anything other than transportation infrastructure.
But Frazier said it is critical that these solutions be found sooner rather than later.
“If we overlook the maintenance of our roads, it’s going to cost us more to get this done,” said Frazier, who has proposed raising $7 billion a year through higher gas and diesel taxes, a $38 annual registration fee increase and a $165 annual fee on zero-emission vehicles.
“For every dollar we’re not spending on it right now, it’s going to end up costing us $9.”

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/California-transportation-funding-fix-still-7534395.php