Project Summary
Without question the most significant change to transportation finance in California over the past half-century has been the rise of voter-approved local option sales taxes for transportation. While the effects of the influx of money on California’s transportation systems has been widely noted, what has gotten less attention is the way that project lists, crafted for and approved by voters, can cast transportation planning into stone in ways that can bypass and obstruct state and federal goals for transportation. The research will finalize work led by Professor Emeritus Martin Wachs, who unexpectedly passed away in 2021. The goal will be to produce a book length manuscript that examines the rise of local option sales taxes for transportation, how they have played out over time, and what they mean for transportation planning in California today. In ten chapters, the manuscript will cover (1) an introduction to the rise of ballot box transportation finance beginning in the 1980s, and its implications for transportation policy and planning today, (2) how ballot box finance fits into the longer historical arc of transportation finance in California, (3) an analysis of the growth of local option sales taxes (LOSTs) for transportation in California, (4) an examination of voting patterns on proposed taxes to fund transportation, (5) an in-depth analysis of Measure M in LA, (6) an examination of the equity implications of LOSTs, (7) an exploration of the local politics surrounding the creation and promotion of transportation tax ballot measures, (8) an analysis of efforts to balance accountability and flexibility in crafting the ballot measures, (9) lessons from the pandemic, and (10) a concluding summary of the preceding analyses.
