California lawmakers urge transit bailout, pushing back on Newsom’s proposed budget cut

By John Woolfolk | Bay Area News Group

California lawmakers Tuesday pushed back on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget for trimming transit funding and declining to bail out transit agencies like BART, which are threatening deep service cutbacks as they struggle to rebound from a pandemic plummet in ridership.

The lawmakers, led by state Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat from San Francisco, said the transit agencies’ money woes aren’t their fault but stemmed from from the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. Without a bailout, they said, service cuts will further depress ridership, worsening traffic congestion, air pollution and other woes.

“Our transit systems have been telling us for months and months and months that this fiscal cliff is happening, and unfortunately the governor’s budget had zero dollars in it to address these operational shortfalls — zero!” Wiener told reporters Tuesday in Sacramento. “Instead, the governor’s proposal slashes $2 billion in transit infrastructure money, which will kill various projects around the state and will cause us to forfeit billions of federal matching dollars if we’re taking away our own capital investment.”

Newsom’s office hinted at a willingness to compromise Tuesday but noted how the state is scrambling to balance a projected $31.5 billion deficit, just a year after enjoying an unprecedented $97.5 billion budget surplus.

Newsom’s proposed revised budget released May 12 closes that budget gap with trims to climate programs, no bailouts for beleaguered mass transit systems and no new taxes. The legislature must pass a budget bill by June 15.

“These budget issues are very difficult,” Daniel Villaseñor, Newsom’s deputy press secretary, said Tuesday. “However, the governor has signaled a willingness to work with the legislature to address this critical transit issue.”

Villaseñor referred to Newsom’s May 12 response to questions about a transit bailout, in which he said he was “very concerned with what’s going on with a lot of public transit agencies across the state, across our country” due to their “alarming” ridership collapse. But Newsom added that “we’re going to have to do things differently.”

“I’m open to solving every problem that exists, to the extent I can, but you can’t do everything,” Newsom said May 12. “It’s about balancing other priorities. . . I don’t want to over-promise that we’re in a position to offset ongoing subsidies to transit agencies all across the state of California within the confines and constructs of our current obligations within the state.”

Villaseñor added Tuesday that “despite the challenging budget situation, the state has invested over $3.2 billion in public transit projects during the first four months of this year.”

“This funding is part of a larger, multiyear, multibillion-dollar investment to upgrade the state’s transit system to support equity, enhance mobility options, improve service and reduce an overdependence on driving,” Villaseñor said. “This demonstrates our continued commitment to meet our climate goals.”

Wiener was joined by Democratic senators Dave Cortese of San Jose and Ben Allen of Santa Monica, and Assembly Members Buffy Wicks of Oakland and Damon Connolly of San Rafael, as well as representatives of environmental and transit groups, who argued the transit agencies need a bailout.

“We know that this is not just a California problem, it’s a national problem,” Wicks said. “It’s time for the state of California to intervene and ensure we don’t step off a transportation fiscal cliff from which we cannot recover.”

Connolly added that “congestion is coming back, we’re seeing it on our roads, we’re seeing it in the Bay Area.”

Craig Segall, former deputy executive officer with the California Air Resources Board, said that “there’s no way California meets its climate goals or cleans up its air if we let public transportation collapse.”

Wiener said lawmakers are looking for the governor to restore $2 billion cut from transit infrastructure improvements and to add operational funding for the agencies to avoid curtailing service. BART on Friday said that without the state money, the transit agency will have to run trains only once an hour, cut service on weekends and after 9 p.m. on weeknights, reduce service to San Francisco International and Oakland International airports, close some stations and even shut down some lines. Bay Area transit agencies outlined many of the possible doomsday cuts last fall in a series of reports obtained by the Bay Area News Group.

BART board member Rebecca Saltzman said the cuts could come later this year without a bailout.

The California Republican Party had no immediate comment on the matter Tuesday, but on Friday issued a statement on the state budget that “bad policies and massive spending have consequences.”

Wiener said the state has options for providing transit aid. California received $1 billion more in federal highway funds than anticipated, he said, and the Biden administration has indicated the money can be used flexibly to help fund operations. He said the state also can divert more revenue from its “cap and trade” carbon pollution reduction program to transit. He added he is “optimistic” about a deal with the governor.

“Newsom is a climate champion,” Wiener said.

©2023 MediaNews Group, Inc.

Visit at mercurynews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Daily News Briefing