Transportation-related Ballot Measures in California

[myosh_tino]

With today being election day, I thought it might be interesting to see what transportation-related measures are on the ballot this year.  I'll start with one that has been brought up for discussion by other forum members...

Measure J - San Luis Obispo County
* 1/2 cent Sales Tax increase for 9 years
* Expected to raise $25 million per year
* Requires 2/3 super majority to pass

...and one that I voted on...

Measure B - Santa Clara County
* 1/2 cent Sales Tax increase for 30 years
* Expected to raise $6.3 billion over 30 years
* Requires 2/3 super majority to pass

Are there any other counties/municipalities in California voting on local transportation measures?

Warning: Please keep this purely informational and NOT political.  If the discussion descends into a flame war, I will ask the mods to lock this.

Note to mods: If you feel this is not an appropriate discussion for this forum, please lock and delete.  Thanks.

[gonealookin]

Measure T in the City of South Lake Tahoe is an initiative which would prohibit the city council from supporting the "Loop Road" project, which is the proposed realignment of the easternmost half-mile or so of US 50 in California and the westernmost Nevada portion which runs through the middle of the Stateline casinos.  The new through route would most likely run behind the casinos on the mountain side and would eliminate some existing housing.  The topic has previously been discussed here on this forum.

It isn't a City of SLT project; the Tahoe Transportation District would be the coordinating agency, working with Caltrans and NDOT.  But the city would certainly have plenty of input and this measure might require a separate election to specficially approve a final realignment plan.  I say "might" because there has already been a lawsuit challenging the legality of the initiative; the judge let it go on the ballot and basically said "we'll figure out exactly what it means if it passes".

Passage would guarantee more legal battles before any construction could begin, but of course that's pretty much par for the course anyway for any significant development at Tahoe.

[jrouse]

According to the Self-Help Counties Coalition (SHCC), there are 14 transportation sales tax measures on ballots across the state today.  You can find out more about the different measures at http://www.selfhelpcounties.org/sales-tax-measures.html.

Several of the ballot measures are in counties where there's already a transportation sales tax in place.  It's unclear whether these measures are for renewal of the tax or are for additional taxes.  I know Sacramento County's Measure B is an additional tax that will overlap with existing Measure A. 

The measures in Placer, Ventura, San Luis Obispo,Humboldt, Merced, Stanislaus, and Monterey Counties are new taxes.

There are currently 20 counties in California that have a transportation sales tax in place. If the new measures pass, it would mean that nearly half of California's counties would have a transportation sales tax.

[mrsman]

There is a good write-up summary of all of the transit-related initiatives nationwide at

thetransportpolitic.com

[coatimundi]

Measure D in Santa Cruz County: https://getsantacruzcountymoving.org/
Provides numerous multi-modal improvements. On the highway front, the main project is the addition of auxiliary lanes on Highway 1 from 41st east to Park Avenue. This after the outright widening of the highway failed in a similar measure a few years ago.

Measure X in Monterey County: http://www.tamcmonterey.org/programs/transportation-safety-investment-plan/
1/2 cent sales tax for mostly road improvements. Proposals explicitly included (I found the details really vague) are improvements at the SR 156/Castroville Boulevard intersection, a BRT line on Highway 1 (I have to chuckle at this one) and the widening of Imjin Parkway NIMBY. It has some on-call bus service funding attached and some funding of FORTAG, a regional trail that would connect the the Monterey Bay Recreation Trail, CSUMB and Fort Ord National Monument.

[myosh_tino]

Here's what Santa Clara county's Measure B is supposed to address...

* Additional funding to complete BART through downtown San Jose to the Santa Clara Caltrain station
* Provide cities with additional funds to repair and repave roads
* Improve bicycle and pedestrian safety
* Improvements to the county's expressway system
* Improvements to key freeway interchanges
* Enhanced transit for seniors, students and the disabled.

[coatimundi]

Both Measure D in Santa Cruz and Measure X in Monterey passed. Both barely passed by about the same margin.

As for the rest of the election: at least we can all now get stoned and try to forget it.

[myosh_tino]

Santa Clara county's measure B passed quite easily yesterday.  A 2/3rds super majority was needed for it to pass and it got 70% of the vote.

[coatimundi]

I think it's relevant to mention that Proposition 53 was defeated. This would have delayed and very possibly killed the high speed rail project. The project was specifically mentioned in the proposition language, and I wonder what sort of effect that had on it.

[myosh_tino]

I think it's relevant to mention that Proposition 53 was defeated. This would have delayed and very possibly killed the high speed rail project. The project was specifically mentioned in the proposition language, and I wonder what sort of effect that had on it.

While I didn't vote for Prop 53, I was never a fan of HSR.  It's too expensive to build and I don't think it will have the ridership to support the operating costs.

San Luis Obispo's Measure J, which was heavily touted by ACSCmapcollector, looks like it's not going to get the 2/3rds majority needed to pass.  According to the registrar of voters in SLO county, Measure J only got 65% of the vote.

[djsekani]

Measure M passed in Los Angeles County.

[ACSCmapcollector]

I think it's relevant to mention that Proposition 53 was defeated. This would have delayed and very possibly killed the high speed rail project. The project was specifically mentioned in the proposition language, and I wonder what sort of effect that had on it.

While I didn't vote for Prop 53, I was never a fan of HSR.  It's too expensive to build and I don't think it will have the ridership to support the operating costs.

San Luis Obispo's Measure J, which was heavily touted by ACSCmapcollector, looks like it's not going to get the 2/3rds majority needed to pass.  According to the registrar of voters in SLO county, Measure J only got 65% of the vote.

Until the absentee ballots are counted in San Luis Obispo, 2% need to pass at 66.7%.

[myosh_tino]

I think it's relevant to mention that Proposition 53 was defeated. This would have delayed and very possibly killed the high speed rail project. The project was specifically mentioned in the proposition language, and I wonder what sort of effect that had on it.

While I didn't vote for Prop 53, I was never a fan of HSR.  It's too expensive to build and I don't think it will have the ridership to support the operating costs.

San Luis Obispo's Measure J, which was heavily touted by ACSCmapcollector, looks like it's not going to get the 2/3rds majority needed to pass.  According to the registrar of voters in SLO county, Measure J only got 65% of the vote.

Until the absentee ballots are counted in San Luis Obispo, 2% need to pass at 66.7%.

Fair enough but it doesn't look good.  Even the local papers are basically saying that while there's still a chance J passes, the odds are very, very slim.  Don't get me wrong, as someone who lives in a county that passed one of the first transportation sales tax measures (Santa Clara County in 1984), I'm hoping it does pass.

[gonealookin]

That South Lake Tahoe initiative regarding city residents' input in the Loop Road did pass with 60% of the vote, so count on continuing legal battles over the US 50 reroute for the foreseeable future.

[ACSCmapcollector]

I think it's relevant to mention that Proposition 53 was defeated. This would have delayed and very possibly killed the high speed rail project. The project was specifically mentioned in the proposition language, and I wonder what sort of effect that had on it.

While I didn't vote for Prop 53, I was never a fan of HSR.  It's too expensive to build and I don't think it will have the ridership to support the operating costs.

San Luis Obispo's Measure J, which was heavily touted by ACSCmapcollector, looks like it's not going to get the 2/3rds majority needed to pass.  According to the registrar of voters in SLO county, Measure J only got 65% of the vote.

Until the absentee ballots are counted in San Luis Obispo, 2% need to pass at 66.7%.

Fair enough but it doesn't look good.  Even the local papers are basically saying that while there's still a chance J passes, the odds are very, very slim.  Don't get me wrong, as someone who lives in a county that passed one of the first transportation sales tax measures (Santa Clara County in 1984), I'm hoping it does pass.

Unless you have 108,000 absentee ballots waiting to be counted in San Luis Obispo County, according to the San Luis Obispo Tribune newspaper for this General Election, 2016.

[DTComposer]

I think it's relevant to mention that Proposition 53 was defeated. This would have delayed and very possibly killed the high speed rail project. The project was specifically mentioned in the proposition language, and I wonder what sort of effect that had on it.

While I didn't vote for Prop 53, I was never a fan of HSR.  It's too expensive to build and I don't think it will have the ridership to support the operating costs.

San Luis Obispo's Measure J, which was heavily touted by ACSCmapcollector, looks like it's not going to get the 2/3rds majority needed to pass.  According to the registrar of voters in SLO county, Measure J only got 65% of the vote.

Until the absentee ballots are counted in San Luis Obispo, 2% need to pass at 66.7%.

Fair enough but it doesn't look good.  Even the local papers are basically saying that while there's still a chance J passes, the odds are very, very slim.  Don't get me wrong, as someone who lives in a county that passed one of the first transportation sales tax measures (Santa Clara County in 1984), I'm hoping it does pass.

Unless you have 108,000 absentee ballots waiting to be counted in San Luis Obispo County, according to the San Luis Obispo Tribune newspaper for this General Election, 2016.

According to the latest updates, there's fewer than 30,000 votes left to be counted now, and the measure is closer to 65% approval than 66%. People on both sides of the issue are saying it's not going to happen.

[ACSCmapcollector]

I think it's relevant to mention that Proposition 53 was defeated. This would have delayed and very possibly killed the high speed rail project. The project was specifically mentioned in the proposition language, and I wonder what sort of effect that had on it.

While I didn't vote for Prop 53, I was never a fan of HSR.  It's too expensive to build and I don't think it will have the ridership to support the operating costs.

San Luis Obispo's Measure J, which was heavily touted by ACSCmapcollector, looks like it's not going to get the 2/3rds majority needed to pass.  According to the registrar of voters in SLO county, Measure J only got 65% of the vote.

Until the absentee ballots are counted in San Luis Obispo, 2% need to pass at 66.7%.

Fair enough but it doesn't look good.  Even the local papers are basically saying that while there's still a chance J passes, the odds are very, very slim.  Don't get me wrong, as someone who lives in a county that passed one of the first transportation sales tax measures (Santa Clara County in 1984), I'm hoping it does pass.

Unless you have 108,000 absentee ballots waiting to be counted in San Luis Obispo County, according to the San Luis Obispo Tribune newspaper for this General Election, 2016.

According to the latest updates, there's fewer than 30,000 votes left to be counted now, and the measure is closer to 65% approval than 66%. People on both sides of the issue are saying it's not going to happen.

Now if that happens, San Luis Obispo would put it on the ballot again.  Just like Tulare County did with their measure, and Tulare County passed their measure at the third time in 2006.  Unless bond money propositions come up as an alternative, which I don't think is going to happen.

[myosh_tino]

Now if that happens, San Luis Obispo would put it on the ballot again.  Just like Tulare County did with their measure, and Tulare County passed their measure at the third time in 2006.  Unless bond money propositions come up as an alternative, which I don't think is going to happen.

Yeah, I seriously doubt bonds are a viable option because they would cost more in the long run due to the interest that would have to be paid.  It wouldn't surprise me one bit if J is put back on the ballot again in 2 years.