Transportation is a Critical Need for All Californians.
We need fair and affordable transportation funding.
Users of state highways and local roads should contribute their fair share to essential repairs and improvements. But, as California leads the transition to more fuel-efficient and zero-emission vehicles, more drivers are using less gasoline.
This means many drivers are not paying their fair share of user-based fuel taxes, resulting in a loss of $31 billion in transportation funding over the next 10 years. Local communities rely on these payments at the pump for 80% of the state’s road and highway repairs.
If California fails to close the funding gap, local transportation projects will be delayed, potholes will multiply and safety improvements will remain unfunded. California is already among the worst-rated nationally for poor road and highway conditions.
The Fair Transportation Funding Coalition (FTFC), comprised of business, labor, local government and community leaders, is working to address the looming transportation funding crisis in a way that is fair, sustainable and accountable over the long term.
Get The Facts
California’s transportation funding crisis isn’t just a future concern — these numbers show the real and urgent impacts on our roads, economy and communities if we don’t act now.
Achieving Sustainable Funding
The Fair Transportation Funding Coalition is taking an evidence-based approach to ensure multimodal transportation improvements are funded in a way that is fair, affordable and accountable over the long term. An independent study commissioned by Transportation California researched all viable transportation funding options toward identifying a solution that works for all Californians. The study identifies three options for state policymakers to consider – each reflecting a tradeoff between simplicity, equity, and practicality:
Build on current system to include alternative fuel types, such as electricity and hydrogen.
Replace all fuel taxes with a system that charges vehicles based on the distance they drive.
Combines the existing fuel tax with a mileage-based charge for vehicles that use alternative fuels.
What Others Are Saying
Policymakers and experts agree: California needs fair, sustainable transportation funding. Read quotes from leaders across California.
“While the gas tax has been a critical funding source for transportation improvements, it is becoming less effective as a user-based revenue mechanism. We need to explore new solutions that ensure transportation funding is fair and sustainable.”
“In the new normal of year-round fire season and stronger, more frequent storms, our transportation system will be put under strain that our funding programs and our revenue mechanisms were not designed for. This is a challenge that has no single solution.”
“We are going to lose revenue soon … visibly within the next few years … and by 2040 we will almost certainly [have] lost a lot of revenue on an annual basis.”
“The LAO is right on the gas tax. We have a little bit of time, but I’ll stipulate that we don’t have that much time, and it’s competing with a lot of other priorities right now.”
“The first thing is roads are going to get worse. We’re predicting that probably about a third of the road system, that’s 50,000 miles plus or minus, is probably going to be in poor or failed condition.”
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