Governor Receives Legislation on County Taxes for Transit, Jails

Calling it a “Solomon-like” solution, lawmakers passed and sent to the governor Friday a measure that would allow Los Angeles County voters to approve local sales tax increases for transit and jails without violating state law.

The legislation corrects a conflict on the November ballot where Los Angeles County voters will be asked to endorse two local sales tax increases, each calling for a half-cent tax on each dollar of sales. If both pass, the sales tax rate charged in the county would reach 7 1/2%--exceeding the 7% maximum set by state law .

But the legislation approved by the Legislature allows the county to avoid the violation by providing that if both measures pass, the tax amount of each would be reduced from 0.5% to 0.25%.

The bill glided through the Senate without opposition but in the Assembly objections were raised by Transportation Committee Chairman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar) and it won approval 43 to 16.

Katz said it would be misleading to ask voters to back a half-cent sales tax hike that may end up being a quarter of a cent.

“This is the result of the fact that local elected officials in Los Angeles couldn’t figure out what they wanted to do so they put both (measures) on the ballot,” Katz said. “I wish local officials had solved this problem (themselves).” Revenue from the two measures would be used for transportation and jail improvements.

Assemblyman Mike Roos (D-Los Angeles) responded by suggesting that if lawmakers passed the bill, they would keep the issue out of the courts where “the only winners are the lawyers who file lawsuits.”

“This is a Solomon-like way to deal with the question of what to do if two measures pass that cause you to exceed the sales tax limit,” he said. “It’s fair. It’s good.”