Gov. Brown proposes 12-cent gas tax hike to fix California roads

SACRAMENTO - California’s governor and legislative leaders on Wednesday proposed raising $52 billion to fix the state’s roads through a big increase in the gasoline tax along with higher car registration fees and a $100 charge on emission-free vehicles.

The 10-year plan would boost gasoline excise taxes by 12 cents a gallon - a 43 percent increase.

The plan also includes a sliding fee on vehicles, with owners of cheaper vehicles paying less.

For the first time, owners of zero emission vehicles would pay a $100 annual fee, since they use public roads but don’t pay gasoline taxes.

The gas tax increase would be the largest in state history and would increase over time, Assembly and Senate Republicans said in opposing the plan.

“Yes, it costs money. And if the roof in your house is leaking, you better fix it, because it gets worse all the time,” Gov. Jerry Brown said at a Capitol news conference. “This is mostly about fixing what we already have. If for some reason people try to fight this, and God help us if they were successful, they won’t defeat this, they’ll just delay it and make the expenses go up.”

The proposal includes a constitutional amendment requiring that the money be spent only on transportation projects, and it would create an inspector general to make sure money isn’t misspent.

Critics have long complained that money raised by transportation taxes has been siphoned off for other uses, something the constitutional amendment is designed to prevent. Republican lawmakers renewed that objection, arguing that California already collects enough money with some of the highest gas taxes in the country but spends it on the wrong projects.

“Californians deserve better,” Assembly Republican Leader Chad Mayes of Yucca Valley told reporters after the Democrats unveiled their plan. “The state government has mismanaged our transportation system now for decades and the only answer, the only response to that, is that the Democrats - the ruling party here in California - want to raise taxes.”

The Democratic governor has said California has $59 billion in deferred maintenance on state highways and $78 billion on local streets and roads.

He has set an April 6 goal for the Legislature to pass a transportation funding package before lawmakers leave for a spring recess.

It’s the third time Brown has attempted to address the multibillion-dollar backlog in transportation repairs and upgrades through tax increases. Brown’s previous plans and others calling for tax increases have repeatedly stalled in the Legislature, with Republicans and moderate Democrats reluctant to back the higher taxes.

Democrats control enough seats for the proposal to pass the Assembly and Senate with the two-thirds majority required for tax increases. Brown will need nearly all of them unless he can pick up support from Republicans, who have opposed raising taxes to pay for road construction.

The Assembly will be particularly challenging. A number of Democrats eked out wins in the November election and could be vulnerable in the next campaign if they vote to raise taxes. Moderate Democrats, many from inland districts where voters are generally poorer and face long commutes to work, may be concerned about raising gas prices.

“We can no longer afford to ignore our crumbling and limited public transportation infrastructure,” Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat from San Francisco, said in a statement. He praised the agreement for increasing money for public transportation, but said public transit needs even more money.

Members of the Fix Our Roads Coalition, a group representing business, labor and local government interests lobbying for a transportation funding deal, said they supported the plan unveiled Wednesday.

“We understand the next few days will be critical and legislators should rest assured that members of the Fix Our Roads coalition support this package, and we will stand behind legislators who vote for it,” Virginia Bass, a Humboldt County Supervisor and a member of the coalition, said in a statement. “This will allow counties to make much-needed repairs to improve the safety and efficiency of our local transportation systems.”

In the new proposal:

- The gasoline tax would raise $24.4 billion over 10 years.

- The state’s current 16-cent-a-gallon diesel excise tax would climb by 20 cents - a 125 percent increase. It would raise $7.3 billion over 10 years.

- An increase in the diesel sales tax would raise $3.5 billion over 10 years.

- The sliding vehicle fee is similar to what owners already pay annually to the state Department of Motor Vehicles. It is projected to raise $16.3 billion.

- The $100 annual fee on zero emission vehicles would start in 2020 and raise $200 million

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Associated Press writer Jonathan J. Cooper contributed to this story.