Article XIX, California Constitution

Revenues from taxes imposed by the State on motor vehicle fuels for use in motor vehicles upon public streets and highways, over and above the costs of collection and any refunds authorized by law, shall be used for the following purposes:

(a) The research, planning, construction, improvement, maintenance, and operation of public streets and highways (and their related public facilities for nonmotorized traffic), including the mitigation of their environmental effects, the payment for property taken or damaged for such purposes, and the administrative costs necessarily incurred in the foregoing purposes.

(b) The research, planning, construction, and improvement of exclusive public mass transit guideways (and their related fixed facilities), including the mitigation of their environmental effects, the payment for property taken or damaged for such purposes, the administrative costs necessarily incurred in the foregoing purposes, and the maintenance of the structures and the immediate right-of-way for the public mass transit guideways, but excluding the maintenance and operating costs for mass transit power systems and mass transit passenger facilities, vehicles, equipment, and services.

Revenues from fees and taxes imposed by the State upon vehicles or their use or operation, over and above the costs of collection and any refunds authorized by law, shall be used for the following purposes:

(a) The state administration and enforcement of laws regulating the use, operation, or registration of vehicles used upon the public streets and highways of this State, including the enforcement of traffic and vehicle laws by state agencies and the mitigation of the environmental effects of motor vehicle operation due to air and sound emissions.

(b) The purposes specified in Section 1 of this article.

The Legislature shall provide for the allocation of the revenues to be used for the purposes specified in Section 1 of this article in a manner which ensures the continuance of existing statutory allocation formulas for cities, counties, and areas of the State, until it determines that another basis for an equitable, geographical, and jurisdictional distribution exists; provided that, until such determination is made, any use of such revenues for purposes specified in subdivision (b) of Section 1 of this article by or in a city, county, or area of the State shall be included within the existing statutory allocations to, or for expenditure in, that city, county, or area. Any future statutory revisions shall provide for the allocation of these revenues, together with other similar revenues, in a manner which gives equal consideration to the transportation needs of all areas of the State and all segments of the population consistent with the orderly achievement of the adopted local, regional, and statewide goals for ground transportation in local general plans, regional transportation plans, and the California Transportation Plan.

Revenues allocated pursuant to Section 3 may not be expended for the purposes specified in subdivision (b) of Section 1, except for research and planning, until such use is approved by a majority of the votes cast on the proposition authorizing such use of such revenues in an election held throughout the county or counties, or a specified area of a county or counties, within which the revenues are to be expended. The Legislature may authorize the revenues approved for allocation or expenditure under this section to be pledged or used for the payment of principal and interest on voter-approved bonds issued for the purposes specified in subdivision (b) of Section 1.

The Legislature may authorize up to 25 percent of the revenues available for expenditure by any city or county, or by the State, for the purposes specified in subdivision (a) of Section 1 of this article to be pledged or used for the payment of principal and interest on voter-approved bonds issued for such purposes.

The tax revenues designated under this article may be loaned to the General Fund only if one of the following conditions is imposed:

(a) That any amount loaned is to be repaid in full to the fund from which it was borrowed during the same fiscal year in which the loan was made, except that repayment may be delayed until a date not more than 30 days after the date of enactment of the budget bill for the subsequent fiscal year.

(b) That any amount loaned is to be repaid in full to the fund from which it was borrowed within three fiscal years from the date on which the loan was made and one of the following has occurred:

(1) The Governor has proclaimed a state of emergency and declares that the emergency will result in a significant negative fiscal impact to the General Fund.

(2) The aggregate amount of General Fund revenues for the current fiscal year, as projected by the Governor in a report to the Legislature in May of the current fiscal year, is less than the aggregate amount of General Fund revenues for the previous fiscal year, adjusted for the change in the cost of living and the change in population, as specified in the budget submitted by the Governor pursuant to Section 12 of Article IV in the current fiscal year.

(c) Nothing in this section prohibits the Legislature from authorizing, by statute, loans to local transportation agencies, cities, counties, or cities and counties, from funds that are subject to this article, for the purposes authorized under this article. Any loan authorized as described by this subdivision shall be repaid, with interest at the rate paid on money in the Pooled Money Investment Account, or any successor to that account, during the period of time that the money is loaned, to the fund from which it was borrowed, not later than four years after the date on which the loan was made.

This article shall not affect or apply to fees or taxes imposed pursuant to the Sales and Use Tax Law or the Vehicle License Fee Law, and all amendments and additions now or hereafter made to such statutes.

Notwithstanding Sections 1 and 2 of this article, any real property acquired by the expenditure of the designated tax revenues by an entity other than the State for the purposes authorized in those sections, but no longer required for such purposes, may be used for local public park and recreational purposes.

Notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution, the Legislature, by statute, with respect to surplus state property acquired by the expenditure of tax revenues designated in Sections 1 and 2 and located in the coastal zone, may authorize the transfer of such property, for a consideration at least equal to the acquisition cost paid by the State to acquire the property, to the Department of Parks and Recreation for state park purposes, or to the Department of Fish and Game for the protection and preservation of fish and wildlife habitat, or to the Wildife Conservation Board for purposes of the Wildlife Conservation Law of 1947, or to the State Coastal Conservancy for the preservation of agricultural lands.

As used in this section, "coastal zone" means "coastal zone" as defined by Section 30103 of the Public Resources Code as such zone is described on January 1, 1977.