California
leaders call for fixes to roads, bridges as politicians squabble
Send a link to a friend
[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.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Aug/20/images/ads/current/LINCOLN_theater_011411.png) 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.
[to top of second column] |
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Aug/20/images/ads/current/rohlfs_lda_051513.png)
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)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Aug/20/images/ads/current/charrons_bch041713.png) |