What Others Are Saying
Policymakers and experts agree: California needs fair, sustainable transportation funding. Read quotes from leaders and key stakeholders 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.”
“State decision-makers have long known that stagnant gas tax ra
tes, inflation, and increased fuel efficiency
are eroding gas tax revenue, the dominant funding source for th
eir transportation funds. As the demands on
roads increase from users who don’t pay gas taxes—including tho
se with high-efficiency vehicles or bicycles— transportation funding models are diverging from their original
“user pays” revenue strategies.”
“These revenues are declining due to increased vehicle fuel eco
nomy and the shift toward zero-emission
vehicles, which do not rely on traditional fuel sources and who
se drivers therefore pay no fuel tax. This challenge
is not unique to California as states across the country are lo
oking at alternative revenue mechanisms to fund
transportation. Ultimately, the replacement of the state fuel tax with a more sustainable funding source will allow
the state to deliver a safer, more equitable, cleaner transportation system that supports economic growth while
continuing to invest in the ongoing transportation maintenance
needs at the state and local level.”
“The gasoline tax — long the backbone of transportation funding
— has lost potency as vehicles become more
efficient. According to data compiled by the Pew Charitable Trusts, some states collected less from motor fuel
taxes in 2021 than during the administrations of George W. Bush or Bill Clinton.”
“The way we see it, we’re staring both down a steep slope of declining revenues, as well as an absolute cliff.”
“The decline of fuel-tax revenues resulting from EVs never needing to visit a gas pump will further diminish state and local governments’ ability to maintain our deteriorating network of roads, highways and bridges. At the same time, governments will be faced with increased expenditures due to aging road infrastructure that is threatened by extreme weather events.”