California leaders call for fixes to roads, bridges as politicians squabble

[August 20, 2015]  By Curtis Skinner
 
 OAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) - California Governor Jerry Brown told state legislators on Wednesday that they needed to get past political infighting and develop a plan for long overdue and much needed repairs to the state's roads, bridges and other infrastructure.

He was joined by the state assembly's top Democrat at a news conference in Oakland on Wednesday where they underscored the state's need for tens of billions of dollars worth of repairs and upgrades.

"This is a big challenge," said Brown, adding that he was talking to both Democrats and Republicans. "How we're going to get to the end of it isn't exactly clear this morning."

Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins said in a statement later on Wednesday that California has the second-highest share of roads in poor condition in the United States, with 70 percent of them chronically congested.

But repairing and upgrading the state's transportation system could cost as much as $100 billion, money that could be difficult to conjure without raising taxes or imposing fees.

Talk among Democrats includes possibly increasing taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel, or adding a road usage charge to the cost of registering a car, a spokesman for Atkins said.

But Republicans, whom the Democrats need to reach the two-thirds majority required for tax increases in the state, are having none of it.

On Monday, Republicans in the legislature said they would not support any new taxes to pay for infrastructure improvements. Saying Democrats had already raided funds meant for transportation, Senate Minority Leader Bob Huff said at a news conference that Republicans had submitted several bills aimed at requiring any taxes collected from transportation-related sources to be used for transportation purposes.

Democrats oppose these measures and by Wednesday afternoon had already killed two, including one aimed at stopping Brown's signature high-speed rail project.

But Republicans, frequently without much leverage in the heavily blue state, do have influence this time because the state requires a two-thirds majority for any new taxes.

Democrats briefly had such huge majorities, but now lack one vote in the Senate and two in the Assembly.

Huff said he supports fixing the roads, but that the money should come from reforming the way existing transportation-related tax revenue is spent.

On Wednesday, Brown, a fiscal moderate, said he was pressing both parties to compromise on a way to pay for the repairs.

"The Republicans have a very different perspective than the Democrats," he said.

(Additional reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento, Calif.; Writing by Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Toni Reinhold)

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