Half-a-Penny for Your Transit?

"The governor signed about 30 bills Thursday, including measures to solve a shortage of math and science teachers; weed out incompetent paramedics; toughen enforcement on child care centers; and provide treatment for thousands of uninsured patients diverted after the closure of Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital."

"One of the bills allows Los Angeles County to put a half-cent-on-the-dollar sales tax increase on the Nov. 4 ballot to raise $40 billion over 30 years for mass transit projects, including a proposed subway to the sea. It must be approved by two-thirds of voters."

"Although the county Metropolitan Transportation Authority acted in July to seek an increase in the county's sales tax from 8.25 cents to 8.75 cents on the dollar, the power to tax would have expired in six years without the governor's signature on the bill extending the authority for 30 years."