Planetizen Newswire
Keep up with essential planning news and commentary, delivered to your inbox every Monday and Thursday.
SB 1
California Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order last month directing state agencies to consider climate goals in their spending and operations. Two weeks later, three highway widening projects were deleted, and locals are crying foul.
Streetsblog California
The advocacy division of Consumer Reports published a study to highlight the practice of what could soon be a majority of state governments: charging electric vehicle owners an additional registration fee to compensate for forgone fuel tax revenue.
Consumer Reports
Two UC Berkeley economists evaluated whether to charge electric vehicles a mileage fee since they pay no fuel taxes. A study from the Mineta Institute evaluated the impact of new EV registration fees and increased fuel taxes in California.
CityLab
On July 1, Illinois and Ohio increased gas taxes by double digits: 19 cents per gallon and 10.5 CPG, respectively, followed by California at 5.6 CPG, all due to legislation passed this year or in 2017. Diesel tax hikes were even higher.
Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Reducing the number of traffic lanes to improve bike and pedestrian safety can be inherently controversial when auto travel times are increased, and it can upset motorists further when they learn gas taxes are funding those safety improvements.
Los Angeles Times
California has embraced electric vehicles like no other state, with success reflected in increased sales and registration data, yet transportation emissions have increased for the last four years, primarily from light-duty vehicles.
CALmatters
State and county officials gathered on Friday to celebrate the start of a $514 million project to convert carpool lanes to express lanes and connect auxiliary lanes to make for a lane addition. The 32-mile project on Highway 101 opens in 2022.
San Mateo Daily Journal
Newly inaugurated California Gov. Gavin Newsom made waves on Thursday in his budget address, threatening cities and counties with the possibility of losing a portion of their gas tax subventions if they fail to meet their state housing requirements.
Streetsblog California
What's the best way to ensure that electric vehicle drivers pay to maintain the roads they drive on, considering they don't pay fuel taxes? A new report from the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies was sent to the California legislature.
UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies
Balance between state and local control and between private and public solutions are necessary for meaningful improvement in housing affordability, according to planning activist and affordable housing developer Murtaza Baxamusa.
UrbDeZine
In potentially the most important transportation ballot measure in the state since 1990, the last time residents voted on the gas tax, Californians were deciding whether to repeal fuel taxes and vehicle registration fees approved last year.
Los Angeles Times
In a turnaround from prior voter surveys, a poll released Wednesday on November propositions found a slim majority of voters opposed to repealing the state's first legislative gas tax increase since 1989. Rent control opponents received good news too
The Mercury News
Californians will determine whether to repeal recent fuel tax and user fee increases; Missourians to vote on a 10-cent gas tax hike over 4 years; Coloradans whether to hike the sales tax, and the most interesting measure will be decided in Utah.
Governing
Repeal proponents have already planned a sequel for Proposition 6, regardless of whether the measure passes, resulting in the loss of over $5 billion annually from new transportation user fees, including a 12-cents per gallon gas tax increase.
The Sacramento Bee
New York Times climate reporter, Brad Plumer, comments on California's landmark accomplishment in reducing emissions, observing that with the low-hanging electricity generation fruit picked, reducing transportation emissions will prove formidable.
The New York Times
The initiative is much more than whether to repeal taxes and fees enacted by the passage of the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017 which brings in over $5 billion a year. The measure is a means to increase GOP turnout to retain House seats.
Los Angeles Times
With national media focused on individual candidates, propositions that dealt with park and water bonds, transportation spending, cap-and-trade, and rainwater may have been overlooked. Plus, a measure to increase bridge tolls in the Bay Area.
The Sacramento Bee
It's not looking good for transportation advocates who want to retain over $5 billion in annual transportation funding made possible the passage of a bill last year that enabled the first gas tax increase in California since 1994.
Los Angeles Times
Voters looking for a reason to vote against Prop 72, which provides a tax break for homeowners who install rainwater capture systems, won't find one. None were submitted. Proponents of measures for parks, climate, and transportation are not so lucky.
KQED Science
Two difficult votes last year, both requiring super-majorities, are paying huge dividends to 28 transformative projects throughout the Golden State to improve rail and transit service and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Los Angeles Times
