SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Gov. Jerry Brown kicked off 2016 optimistic on one policy area: After years of stalling, he said it was time for California to finally start making long-overdue repairs to its freeways and bridges.
In his January State of the State address, he told lawmakers they’d have to “bite the bullet and enact new fees and taxes” to pay for a $57 billion backlog in repairs to California’s crumbling state highway system.
So far, the Legislature has not taken up the Democratic governor’s plan to raise $3.6 billion annually for 10 years. Lawmakers also have not met in the special session on transportation the governor called last year, or heard two other Democratic transportation proposals.
“California’s aging transportation infrastructure seems to be a low priority for the governor,” Assembly Transportation Committee Chairman Jim Frazier of Oakley said in a press release last week after Brown released his revised budget.
The lack of action has left some questioning how committed the governor is to solving the transportation problem, which has gone untouched as he has this year taken up sentencing reform, signed a fix to California’s tax on health plans and reached a deal to raise the minimum wage.
“The short answer is yes, we’ve been consistent on this for over a year now,” the governor’s transportation secretary, Brian Kelly, said Tuesday. “We’re still trying to get some action in the Legislature.”
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