California Local Governments Responsible for State Highways, Transportation Lockboxes, and Terminate High-Speed Rail Project Initiative (2020)
| California Local Governments Responsible for State Highways, Transportation Lockboxes, and Terminate High-Speed Rail Project Initiative | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 3, 2020 | |
| Topic Transportation | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin Citizens |
The California Local Governments Responsible for State Highways, Transportation Lockboxes, and Terminate High-Speed Rail Project Initiative (#18-0010) was not on the ballot in California as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 3, 2020.
Reform California, which organized the campaign behind Proposition 6 (2018), filed the ballot initiative on September 25, 2018. Carl DeMaio (R), chairman of Reform California, said the group's 2020 ballot initiative was about "fixing California’s roads without raising taxes on struggling working families of our state — and we’re proving how it can be done before voters are asked to vote ‘yes’ on Prop. 6, the gas-tax repeal initiative." Proposition 6, which was defeated, sought to overturn fuel tax and vehicle fee increases enacted in 2017.[1] Kiana Valentine, a representative of the California State Association of Counties, which was also opposed to Proposition 6, responded to the ballot initiative, saying, "Once again Carl DeMaio’s fuzzy math doesn’t add up, and puts the rest of us in jeopardy every day as we’re driving on California’s crumbling roads and bridges."[2][3]
Initiative #18-0010 would have added the following requirements to the California Constitution:[4]
- made local governments, rather than the state, responsible for state highways within their jurisdictions;
- required revenue from taxes on motor vehicle fuels, such as gasoline and diesel, to be placed in a special fund, known as a lockbox, for local governments to spend on constructing, maintaining, and improving highways and streets;
- required revenue from taxes on the purchase, use, and operation of vehicles, taxes on vehicle insurance, license fees, and fines to be placed in a lockbox for local governments to spend on highways, streets, and public mass transportation;
- terminated funding for the California High-Speed Rail, which voters approved in 2008; and
- prohibited the state from limiting which contractors and workers that local governments can hire for transportation projects based on union or non-union status, compensation amounts, or benefits amounts.
Text of measure
Ballot title
The official ballot title was as follows:[5]
| “ |
Removes Responsibility and Funding for State Highway Construction and Maintenance from State. Transfers Such Responsibility and Funding to Individual Local Governments. Ends State High-Speed Rail Project. Constitutional Amendment.[6] |
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Petition summary
The summary provided for inclusion on signature petition sheets was as follows:[5]
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Shifts responsibility for constructing and maintaining state highways from the state to local governments. Allocates revenues from state motor vehicle fuel taxes to local governments for road construction and repair by private, non-governmental entities. Allocates revenues from state taxes and fees on vehicles to local governments for road construction and repairs, and mass transit. Terminates funding for state’s high-speed rail project. Requires State Auditor to audit certain transportation projects and Department of Motor Vehicles.[6] |
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Fiscal impact statement
The fiscal impact statement was as follows:[5]
| “ |
A shift of roughly $10 billion in outgoing state revenues from state and local non transportation programs to local transportation programs. Increased ongoing state spending of several billions annually to backfill certain programs affected by this shift. Also, roughly $12 billion in existing ongoing state revenues for transportation would be provided to local governments. A shift of up to hundreds of millions of dollars ongoing from certain state and local programs to the enforcement of traffic and vehicle laws. Potential increased ongoing spending by the state and local governments to backfill programs affected by this shift. Reduced state expenditures on the high-speed rail project in the tens of billions of dollars from stopping the project.[6] |
” |
Constitutional changes
- See also: California Constitution
The ballot initiative would have added a new Article XIX E to the California Constitution. The following text would have been added:[4]
Note: Hover over the text and scroll to see the full text.
SECTION 1. Notwithstanding Articles XIX to XIX D, inclusive, all revenues collected on and after January 1, 2021, from taxes imposed by the State on motor vehicle fuels for use in motor vehicles upon public streets and highways shall be deposited into the Citizens' Lock Box for Road Repairs, Maintenance, and Improvement, which is hereby created and declared to be a trust fund, and shall be allocated monthly in accordance with Section 4 and shall be used solely for the following purposes:
(a) Capital outlay for public streets and highways, provided that the entity carrying out the capital outlay project is a private, non-governmental entity. For purposes of this subdivision, "capital outlay" means the expenditure of funds for the acquisition of land or other real property, major construction, improvements, equipment, designs, specifications, and equipment necessary in connection with a construction or improvement project on a public street or highway.
(b) Repairs and maintenance of public streets and highways, which are intended to keep a facility functional at its designed level of services and life expectancy, provided that the entity carrying out the repairs and maintenance is a private, non-governmental entity.
SECTION 2.(a) Notwithstanding Articles XIX to XIX D, inclusive, and Section 15 of Article XI, all revenues collected on and after January 1, 2021, from taxes imposed by the State on the purchase, use, or operation of vehicles, including taxes and fees imposed pursuant to the Sales and Use Tax Law or the Vehicle License Fee Law and taxes imposed on insurance for motor vehicles used upon the public streets and highways, and all amendments and additions now or hereafter made to such statutes, shall be deposited into the Citizens' Lock Box for Transportation Infrastructure Repair, Maintenance, Operation, and Improvement, which is hereby created and declared to be a trust fund, and shall be allocated monthly in accordance with Section 4 and shall be used solely for the research, planning, construction, improvement, maintenance, and operation of public streets and highways (and their related public facilities for nonmotorized traffic), 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, and state administration and enforcement.
(b) Notwithstanding Articles XIX to XIX D, inclusive, all revenues collected on and after January 1, 2021, from fines and penalties imposed for violation of traffic and vehicle laws and from fees imposed by the State upon motor vehicles or their use or operation, including license fees, and all amendments and additions now or hereafter made to such statutes governing those penalties, fines, and fees, shall be deposited into the Citizens' Lock Box for Transportation Infrastructure Repair, Maintenance, Operation, and Improvement, and shall be used solely for 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, support for courts with regard to costs incurred for cases relating to the enforcement of traffic and vehicle laws, and the mitigation of the environmental effects of motor vehicle operation due to air and sound emissions.
SECTION 3. (a) For the purposes of this section, "transportation project" means any project or expenditure of state or local funds for activities related to the construction, improvement, maintenance, or operation of highways, roads, bridges, rail, transit, airport, port, or supporting infrastructure facilitating movement of people and things.
(b) State or local government resources shall not be used to fund any transportation project that limits the rights of any contractor or worker from participating on the project because of their union or non-union status, including any limitations imposed by a project labor agreement binding any contractor hired or funded by a state or local government entity.
(c) The State or a local government shall not impose any requirement regarding the amount of compensation and benefits that an employer or entity must pay to employees working on a transportation project that is greater than the requirements expressly mandated by federal law or regulation or a requirement imposed by the federal government as a condition for receipt of federal funds for that transportation project.
(d) The Legislature shall not enact a law, and state government agencies shall not take any action, to prohibit or limit the ability of a local government to use competitive bidding or outsourcing as a means of carrying out work on a transportation project.
(e) (1) The Governor and Legislature shall terminate any funding for the project known as California High-Speed Rail, which is a project funded by in part by bonds authorized by Proposition IA that was approved by voters at the November 4, 2008, general election. The state government shall cease all activities on the California High-Speed Rail project carried out or funded in whole or in part by public funds. The Governor may only expend such minimal funds as is necessary to effect the orderly and complete termination of the project no later than June 30, 2021. The Governor and the Legislature shall not take any action that would have the effect of extending activity or supporting the successful completion of this project.
(2) No further bonds shall be issued and sold for purposes of Section 2704.06 of the Streets and Highways Code on and after the effective date of this section. The unspent proceeds received from outstanding bonds issued and sold pursuant to Section 2704.06 of the Streets and Highways Code prior to the effective date of this section shall be redirected from high-speed rail purposes for use in retiring the debt incurred from the issuance and sale of those outstanding bonds.
(f) (1) The State Auditor shall conduct an annual program of transportation project performance and efficiency audits on transportation projects funded by revenues covered by Sections 1 and 2 that examines the quality of projects, the cost of projects, internal management efficiency, and contractor performance. The Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) or its successor shall select the projects that are to be audited each year by the State Auditor. The LAO shall select one-quarter of the projects based on proposals from the majority party of the State Senate, one-quarter of the projects based on proposals from the minority party of the State Senate, one-quarter of the projects based on proposals from submissions from city and county governments, and one-quarter of projects based on proposals of citizens of California.
(2) By January 1, 2024, and at least every three years thereafter, the State Auditor shall conduct a performance and efficiency audit of the Department of Motor Vehicles or its successor that examines customer service, quality of projects, cost of projects, internal management efficiency, and contractor performance.
SECTION 4. (a) (1) All revenues described in Section 1 and in subdivision (a) of Section 2 shall be allocated to cities and counties. Each city and county shall receive a percentage of these revenues corresponding to the percentage of funds they received under any formulas or allocations governing transportation funding for cities and counties that were in place as of January 1, 2018.
(2) A statute enacted by the Legislature modifying the allocations required by paragraph (1) must be by a bill passed in each house of the Legislature by rollcall vote entered in the journal, two-thirds of the membership concurring, provided that the bill does not contain any other unrelated provision.
(b) The revenues allocated by statute to cities and counties pursuant to this article may be used solely by the city or county to which they are allocated, and solely for the purposes described in Sections 1 and 2 and subject to the restrictions established in Section 3.
(c) Cities and counties are responsible for maintaining and constructing local streets and roads and the portions of state highways located within their jurisdiction. This section does not limit the ability of the state government to regulate the use, condition, or safety of local streets and roads and state highways.
(d) The Governor or the Legislature may not take any action that permanently or temporarily does any of the following: (1) changes the status of the Citizens' Lock Boxes established by this article as trust funds; (2) borrows, diverts, or appropriates these revenues for purposes other than those described in this article; or (3) delays, defers, suspends, or otherwise interrupts the payment, allocation, distribution, disbursal, or transfer of revenues from taxes described in this article to cities and counties.
(e) If the Legislature reduces or repeals the taxes described in this article and adopts an alternative source of revenue to replace the moneys derived from those taxes, the replacement revenue shall be deposited into the trust funds established by this article and dedicated to the purposes listed in this article, and allocated to cities and counties pursuant to this article. All other provisions of this article shall apply to any revenues adopted by the Legislature to replace the moneys derived from the taxes described in this article.[6]
Path to the ballot
In California, the number of signatures required for an initiated constitutional amendment is equal to 8 percent of the votes cast in the preceding gubernatorial election. Petitions are allowed to circulate for 180 days from the date the attorney general prepares the petition language. Signatures need to be certified at least 131 days before the general election. As the verification process can take multiple months, the secretary of state provides suggested deadlines for ballot initiatives.
The requirements to get an initiated constitutional amendment, filed before the 2018 general election, certified for the 2020 ballot:
- Signatures: 585,407 valid signatures were required.
- Deadline: The deadline for signature verification will be in late June 2020.
Signatures are first filed with local election officials, who determine the total number of signatures submitted. If the total number is equal to at least 100 percent of the required signatures, then local election officials perform a random check of signatures submitted in their counties. If the random sample estimates that more than 110 percent of the required number of signatures are valid, the initiative is eligible for the ballot. If the random sample estimates that between 95 and 110 percent of the required number of signatures are valid, a full check of signatures is done to determine the total number of valid signatures. If less than 95 percent are estimated to be valid, the initiative does not make the ballot.
Initiative #18-0010
Proponents filed the ballot initiative on September 25, 2018.[4] The Attorney General of California issued ballot language for the initiative on November 30, 2018, allowing a signature drive to begin. Proponents had until May 28, 2019, to file at least 585,407 valid signatures for the ballot initiative. On June 7, 2019, the secretary of state's office announced that the initiative had failed to make the ballot.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ The Sacramento Bee, "California’s gas tax increase is here to stay," November 6, 2018
- ↑ Los Angeles Times, "Gas-tax repeal backers to launch new campaign to halt California's bullet train," September 25, 2018
- ↑ Capital Public Radio, "Backers of Proposition 6 ‘Gas Tax Repeal’ Reveal New 2020 Ballot Initiative," September 25, 2018
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 California Attorney General, "Initiative 18-0010," September 25, 2018
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 California Secretary of State, "Initiatives and Referenda Cleared for Circulation," accessed April 23, 2018
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source. Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "quotedisclaimer" defined multiple times with different content
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