This article makes sense as far as it goes, but I have another proposal. Why don't we figure out how much we took in last year in gasoline and other fuel taxes and cut that amount from the current budget, THEN we can spend the money on infastructure as these funds were intended to do in the first place. Aslo, why don't we pass an amendment to the state constitution that requires these monies to be used ONLY for the purpose they are intended for.
That's way TOO sensible.
But of course you are right.
But something needs to be done to fix the infrastructure:
California Tops the List of Worst Roads in the Nation
http://www.allstays.com/Features/CaliforniaWorstRoads.htm
Dec. 27, 2001--California's rutted, cracked and neglected roads now rank at the bottom of all 50 states in roadway quality and per capita dollars being spent to improve them, according to a new study from Transportation California.
``A generation of underinvestment in California's streets, highways, overpasses and bridges has resulted in a shameful deterioration of what once was a showcase transportation network,'' said Larry Fisher, executive director of Transportation California, the state's leading transportation advocacy and public education organization.
Travel in California increased 97 percent between 1980 and 2000, and population increased 42 percent in the same period. Yet California invested less per person in transportation than any state. According to the report, this underinvestment has had an adverse impact on travel, safety and drivers' pocketbooks.
The legislature doesn't want to do that, because it would be harder to ask voters to pass a bond (effectively a tax, since bonds must be repaid eventually) to fund the myriad other wasteful spending projects that the liberal legislators want.
Also, why don't we pass an amendment to the state constitution that requires these monies to be used ONLY for the purpose they are intended for.
We already passed an initiative to direct gas taxes to transportation projects, but the authors wrote in a huge loophole that the CA government has used to keep taking the money.
Basically, the loophole is triggered whenever there is a budget shortfall; of course, the legislators and complicit governors have engineered the budget shortfall by overspending, so Prop 42 has been useless.