California lawmakers on April 6 approved a plan to boost transportation funding by $5.24 billion annually through a combination of motor fuel and vehicle registration increases. The bill, which narrowly passed along mostly party lines, is projected to raise $52.4 billion over the first 10 years, which will be used to fund road and bridge maintenance and improvements, as well as transit and trail infrastructure.

The Transportation Investment Advocacy Center’s™ (TIAC) latest case study explores how and why California lawmakers passed a measure to increase transportation funding. The report also reviews the history of the state’s transportation funding, the factors that contributed to its funding shortfall, major players involved in the campaign, and marketing and polling information from the advocates who worked to pass the measure.

Read California’s 2017 Transportation Funding Increase Legislation.

The TIAC staff researches and prepares detailed case studies of recent successful—and unsuccessful—state and local legislative and ballot initiative campaigns aimed at increasing transportation infrastructure investment. For each case, the studies dig into the politics, issues, media and major players involved in the effort. To view other case studies, visit the ‘Campaign Case Studies’ tab on the TIAC website.
TIAC attempts to track all ongoing state and local transportation funding and financing developments in real time and reports on them frequently through TranspoAdvocate News. If you would like to contribute information to this effort, please contact the TIAC staff.