A proposed ballot measure to raise the controversial vehicle license fee, so that money comes in to help pay to repair the state’s pothole-filled roads and maintain train systems, will not go before voters after all. That after the group pushing to get the measure on the November ballot, said the timing isn’t right, and they won’t continue to pursue it at this time. The California Road Repairs Act would have increased the vehicle license fee by a quarter percent a year for four years.
This would have been the first statewide transportation measure since a $20 billion bond was approved by voters in 2006. It would have been used exclusively for road, bridge and transit system maintenance, as well as rehabilitation and replacement of transit vehicles. None of it would have gone to widen highways or extend transit lines.
The group now plans to look at other ways to raise money. Up first could be a legislative effort to lower the threshold for approving countywide sales taxes from two-thirds to perhaps 55 percent of voters.
