BACKGROUND
Proposition 69 is a measure on the June statewide ballot to provide additional protections for transportation revenues. It is a constitutional amendment to prohibit the Legislature from diverting or borrowing any new transportation revenues for non-transportation improvement purposes to ensure that revenues passed by the Legislature to pay for road and highway maintenance will be spent exclusively on transportation. It was placed on the ballot by Assembly Constitutional Amendment 5 (Frazier), which passed the Legislature last year as part of the transportation package. Additionally, efforts are currently underway to place a proposition on the November 2018, statewide ballot to repeal SB 1 (Beall).
Proposition 69 extends constitutional protections to all new vehicle fee and gasoline and diesel tax revenues generated by SB 1 that are not currently protected. It prohibits the Legislature from borrowing the new revenues or using them for any reason not currently outlined, including prohibiting loaning the funds to the State General Fund or another special fund.
Proposition 69 was part of a legislative package that included SB 1. Without SB 1, Proposition 69 would not affect anything. SB 1, which was also known as the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017, enacted an estimated $5.2 billion-a-year increase in transportation-related taxes and fees, including a $0.12 cents per gallon increase of the gasoline excise tax, a $0.20 cents per gallon increase of the diesel excise tax, a 4 percentage points increase of the diesel sales tax, an annual $25 to $100 Transportation Improvement Fee, and an annual $100 zero-emission vehicles fee.]
Proposition 69 would require that revenue from the diesel sales tax and Transportation Improvement Fee (TIF) be dedicated for transportation-related purposes. As of 2018, the state constitution prohibited the legislature from using gasoline excise tax revenue or diesel excise tax revenue for general non-transportation purposes. The amendment would require the diesel sales tax revenue to be deposited into the Public Transportation Account, which was designed to distribute funds for mass transportation and rail systems. Proposition 69 would require the TIF revenue be spent on public streets and highways and public transportation systems. Although SB 1 requires revenue from the zero-emission vehicles fee to be placed in the Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Account, Proposition 69 does not contain a provision creating a constitutional mandate for zero-emission vehicles fee revenue.
SB 1
SB 1 itself could potentially be in jeopardy this fall due to efforts to repeal the measure through a November 2018, statewide ballot proposition. If approved, the initiative would eliminate the gas tax in its entirety. The governor signed SB 1 into law last year as a way to address a $59 million deferred maintenance on state highways and $78 billion needed for local streets and roads. The City’s public works department receives more than $3 million from SB 1 for roadway maintenance and other transportation-related services. If SB 1 is repealed, it would eliminate guaranteed funding for cities and counties for road maintenance and limit future state funding for transportation projects.
The Fix Our Roads Coalition, which the City of Roseville is a member, is requesting coalition members support Proposition 69 and oppose the repeal of SB 1. The California Association of Councils of Governments (CALCOG), California State Association of Counties (CSAC), League of California Cities and many other members of the coalition have taken this position to support Proposition 69 and oppose the repeal of SB
Conclusion
The effects of each of these measures have implications for the City and its ability to maintain and undertake transportation-related activities and projects now and into the future. Staff requests the Committee’s input and direction on bringing the item to the full City Council for their consideration.