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TRANSACTIONS NEWSLETTER ONLINE

November 2001

Transportation Scores in Sacramento
Drawing of the Capitol by Bud Peen World events notwithstanding, transportation remained on the political radar screen in Sacramento this fall, with Governor Davis signing bills involving everything from toll bridges to pedestrian safety, and vetoing several others of interest to MTC.

The biggest news in terms of dollars was Davis' signature on Assembly Bill 1171 (Dutra), which formalized a $2.5 billion state-local cost-sharing agreement for overruns associated with the seismic retrofit of Bay Area toll bridges and construction of a new eastern span for the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. The governor also signed Senate Bill 10 (Soto), which extends the authorization for the Safe Routes to School program to January 1, 2005.

Davis rejected Assembly Bill 1419 (Aroner), which would have helped finance a new Transbay Terminal in San Francisco by essentially transferring title of the terminal site and other nearby parcels from Caltrans to the city of San Francisco. However, the veto message instructed Caltrans to transfer the property administratively, and expressed the governor's support for the project.

The political focus now shifts to the March 2002 ballot, where Assembly Constitutional Amendment 4 will appear as Proposition 42. The measure would dedicate the state sales tax on gasoline to transportation programs in perpetuity. If it passes, it would be the first permanent, new state source of transportation funding since 1990.

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