‘Pay Now’ Is a Better Plan for State’s Roadways

Anyone who has been stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the San Diego Freeway during rush hour knows firsthand the need to unclog our roads and highways. Countless hours spent crawling to and from work is time that could have been spent with families.

Gov. Gray Davis took an important first step in addressing our gridlocked roads with the recent unveiling of his transportation plan. However, he failed to offer a long-term, pay-as-you-go solution to ease traffic-choked highways and fix pothole-pocked roads.

Davis’ proposal offers $5.2 billion over four years toward California’s transportation needs. This is after the legislative analyst’s office, a nonpartisan fiscal and policy advisor to the Legislature, estimated that our roads will need nearly $118 billion in repairs over the next 20 years.

Committing to spend $5.2 billion to fix a $118-billion problem is barely a drop in the bucket, especially when the state is capable of doing so much more. Additionally, $2.2 billion of the $5.2 billion in proposed spending is based on the assumption that California voters will pass a bond measure in November.

By the time the $2.2-billion bond was paid with interest over the next 30 years, taxpayers would have paid $4.3 billion. Meanwhile, California is anticipating a nearly $11-billion surplus. Clearly, it is not in the best interest of Californians to incur more debt and pay more taxes when we are swimming in surpluses.

The Republican 20 / 20 Vision plan offers a long-term, pay-as-you-go alternative to raising taxes. This plan would use existing general fund dollars to rebuild California’s infrastructure, including roads and highways. By investing 5% of the annual growth of the state budget, many of California’s infrastructure needs, including our roads, would be fixed.

Based on historic growth, by 2020, we could have invested as much as $125 billion without raising a dime in new taxes. Additional funding for our crumbling roads and highways could also be found in using revenue generated from the state sales tax on gasoline.

Although Californians pay nearly $16 billion a year in car and fuel taxes, not a penny goes toward road construction or maintenance.

Over the past couple of months, Assembly Republicans have pushed to eliminate the state sales tax on gasoline in an attempt to lower high fuel prices. Unfortunately, we have been resoundingly defeated.

That is why I am sponsoring Assembly Bill 2451, which proposes to direct $450 million from the state gas tax to local governments for local road maintenance and repair and to provide general fund backfill. If Assembly Democrats are so intent on forcing us to pay a state sales tax on gas, despite an $11-billion surplus, then at the very least this revenue should go toward funding our crumbling roads and highways.

Another sticking point in Davis’ plan is that it takes away local governments’ discretion in using the new transportation funds. If local governments want any of the new state money, they must agree to projects Davis also wants. This forces local governments to halt as much as $10 billion in commitments to other important projects. If they disagree with Davis on which projects are needed, then they forego state funding.

Everyone agrees that it will cost a significant amount of money to rebuild our roads and highways. It is just a matter of deciding the best way to raise the dollars needed for the improvements.

With an unprecedented surplus, there is no reason to increase the burden already carried by taxpayers in our state.

By investing our surpluses, redirecting taxes already in place and ensuring that local governments have the authority to control which potholes are repaired and which roads are added, we will unclog our freeways and enable motorists to leisurely cruise through the 21st century.