More than 100 city officials joined with the League of California Cities’ board of directors to announce the board’s unanimous vote to take legal action, if necessary, to challenge the constitutionality of a key component of the budget proposed by the Budget Conference Committee to seize $1.7 billion of the local share of the highway users, or gas, tax that is used to maintain local streets and roads. The announcement was made at a press conference on Thursday, June 25, in the Sacramento Convention Center during the League’s policy committee meetings.
The action comes as close to 130 cities have already passed resolutions directing their respective city attorneys to cooperate with the League, other cities and counties in pursuing litigation to have any raid of local gas tax funds declared unconstitutional and invalid.
City Advocate Weekly reported last week about the opinion prepared by Nielsen, Merksamer, Parrinello, Mueller & Naylor, LLP, a law firm specializing in ballot measure and election matters, on the proposal to seize the gas tax. The firm concluded that in both 1974 and 1998 voters imposed restrictions on the state’s ability to use gas taxes for debt service on bonds and to divert local gas taxes for the state general fund.
State leaders have proposed bypassing the voter-imposed restrictions to use local gas tax funds to pay off the state’s highway bonds and reimburse the state general fund. This is a questionable move that seems designed to give the appearance of having a balanced budget. The League has shared the legal opinion with all legislators, the Budget Conference Committee, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The opinion has been posted on the League's Web site.
“As a lawyer and an elected official who has taken an oath to defend the constitution of the state of California, it is pretty obvious that it is illegal to steal local gas tax funds when the voters have twice restricted such raids,” said Judith Mitchell, League of California Cities president and Rolling Hills Estates mayor. “After the voters’ strong rejection of the May 19 ballot measures, I hope state leaders will avoid budget gimmicks like this that are blatantly unconstitutional and raise serious questions about the credibility of the state budget,” added Mitchell.
Cities have advised the League that the seizure of local gas tax funds will force some to eliminate part or all of their street maintenance operations while others will cut back in other areas, including police and fire services, to pay for basic street repair and maintenance. Poorly maintained streets will mean delays in emergency response times and increased costs for drivers whose vehicle repairs will rise because of worsening street and road conditions. Reductions in street sweeping will increase water pollution runoff to nearby streams, and reduced street maintenance will increase vehicle idling times, greenhouse gas emissions, and respiratory problems for vulnerable populations like children and the elderly.
“Attempting to take local gas tax funds ignores the long-term state-local partnership in which cities and counties are responsible for the maintenance of more than 80 percent of the state’s road system that is currently rated ‘at risk,’ by the California Statewide Local Streets and Roads Needs Assessment. Balancing the state budget in this way isn’t going to inspire confidence in California, but it will cause more traffic jams, vehicle damage and water pollution,” said League Executive Director Chris McKenzie.
Press Conference Details
Thursday’s press conference carried a simple yet strong message: DON’T KICK THE CAN DOWN THE ROAD!
During the press event, President Mitchell was flanked by a very large group of city officials all holding “Save Your City” signs. President Mitchell told reporters that the Legislature should adopt a credible budget that is balanced with a realistic mix of state, not local, revenues.
When she finished her remarks she passed Modesto Mayor and League Second Vice President Jim Ridenour a can labeled with Save Your City on one side and a quote from the Governor on the other side that read: "I urged the legislature to take this seriously and to not ... kick the can down the road, as they have done in the past but let's solve the problem." Fresno Bee, June 11, 2009.
Mayor Ridenour said that his city will literally go dark if gas taxes are seized because they will be forced to shut off 12,000 street lights. He told reporters that cities are not a state program but separate governments that have suffered the same drastic revenue losses as the state.
The Modesto mayor ended his remarks by giving the can to Clovis City Council Member Nathan Magsig. The council member explained to reporters how his county’s (Fresno) unemployment rate has skyrocketed to 15.4 percent and that the public works projects funded with gas tax are imperative to keeping folks working. He ended his remarks by urging the Legislature to reject these unconstitutional job killing proposals because the promised savings are illusory and will only cause widespread economic harm.
League Executive Director Chris McKenzie was the final speaker and summarized the following points about the proposed seizures of local funds for the state budget:
- They will undermine investor confidence;
- They are illegal; and
- They will kill jobs.
The press conference was well covered with representatives from both print and electronic news outlets including:
- The Sacramento Bee
- Capitol Weekly
- KFBK-AM
- KCRA-TV
- Fox 40-TV
- Public CEO
- Capitol Television News Service
Capitol Public Radio also conducted a phone interview with Chris McKenzie following the news conference. The Riverside Press Enterprise is running a story as well on June 26.
