California motorists have seen a steady downward trend in gasoline prices recently. In the Los Angeles, Long Beach and San Diego areas, the average price of a gallon of regular self-serve has dropped 25 cents over the past 30 days. And motorists in Riverside County are saving 28 cents per gallon compared to last month’s prices at the pump. That’s more than double the 12-cent per gallon gas tax increase put in place by last year’s Senate Bill 1, the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017.
When Prop 6 appeared on the November ballot aiming to repeal SB 1, Californian voters could not see the merits of repealing the transportation law’s taxes and fees, which were clearly designated for road repairs and public transportation.
This is probably not surprising to most Californians. Anyone who has driven a car over the past decade is aware that events far beyond the Golden State determine the cost of gasoline — and also painfully aware of the poor condition of California’s highways and bridges.
Most voters understood that a small tax increase to fix roads would be dwarfed by swings in the global price of oil. And after 10 months of visible work on road and bridge projects, with Senate Bill 1 signs on highways across the state, there is much evidence of the tangible progress being made possible by the legislative package that invests $54 billion over the next decade to fix roads, freeways and bridges in communities across California.
“California voters were smart enough to know that a small tax increase for road repairs wouldn’t make much of a difference in the price of gasoline — and could make their commute safer,” says Chris Jennewein, Editor of the Times of San Diego.
Funds from SB 1 are continually being invested in projects to fix neighborhood streets, freeways and bridges in communities across California — and helping to create thousands of job opportunities by putting people to work rebuilding California.
Source: Various
