It’s not difficult to figure out what issues will dominate the new biennial session of the Legislature.
Traffic moves slowly along Interstate 880 in Oakland on Dec. 15. Raising billions of dollars for roadway maintenance is one of the major issues facing the Legislature this year. Ben Margot The Associated Press
The biggies will be two complex, worsening crises – deterioration of our once-vaunted roadway system as it’s pounded by nearly a billion vehicle-miles of automotive travel each day, and an acute housing shortage.
Transportation officials have warned for years that California’s roadways are crumbling from heavy use and maintenance neglect.
There’s no shortage of proposals to shore up maintenance, but all involve tax increases, and lining up two-thirds legislative votes for taxes has proved elusive.
Democrats now have two-thirds supermajorities in both legislative houses and, therefore, theoretically enough votes to pass new taxes.
However, legislative leaders would prefer, for political cover, to have bipartisan support. They thought, momentarily at least, that they had it and almost called the Legislature back to Sacramento in November, but it didn’t happen.
The housing nut has been equally difficult to crack because it, too, has many stakeholders with disparate agendas.
California needs to build at least 100,000 new housing units a year to match population growth, but fell way behind during the Great Recession and hasn’t caught up.
The shortage has driven housing costs sky-high, particularly in major urban areas, and is the biggest factor in California’s having the nation’s highest level of poverty.
View Article