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California Republicans have faced unusual pushback after condemning a legislative proposal that would study alternatives to the state’s gas tax—while rural officials and some conservative-aligned groups that depend on road repairs support the effort.
The controversy centers on Assembly Bill 1421, introduced by Assembly Transportation Chair Lori Wilson, a Suisun City Democrat. The bill would direct the California Transportation Commission to compile existing research and recommendations on how to charge drivers according to how much they use the road rather than how much fuel they consume.
Wilson framed the legislation as a response to mounting strain in the current system. “(The bill) responds to a reality that we can no longer ignore,” Wilson said at a committee hearing in January. “California’s transportation funding system is becoming less stable, less equitable and less sustainable.”
For more than a month, Republican lawmakers in California blasted the proposal, saying Democrats are seeking to raise taxes on drivers through the study. The criticism spread widely online, and conservatives nationally repeated the argument even though the legislation, as described by supporters, focuses on research rather than implementation of a mileage-based charge.
Even so, several of California’s biggest conservative interest groups and rural Republican officials said they support the measure. A bipartisan coalition spearheaded by Transportation California helped kickstart the state’s work on road-use charges in 2014, according to the reporting. The coalition includes major labor unions, business groups, county associations and representatives from building and agricultural industries.
Supporters point to the fiscal pressure on transportation maintenance as fuel-tax revenues fall. California has taxed drivers at the gas pump since 1923 and relies on that revenue for 80% of the state’s highway maintenance and road repairs, the reporting said. The California Transportation Commission estimated last year that the state could take in $31 billion less than projected over the next decade as vehicles become more fuel-efficient and more Californians switch to electric vehicles.
The commission also concluded the state could fall $216 billion short of what it needs for maintenance over the next 10 years. That projected gap, supporters said, increases the risk that roads and highways could worsen as maintenance gets deferred.
Republican skeptics, including those warning of future tax hikes, have also raised the political stakes around the bill, particularly as Gov. Gavin Newsom considers future decisions and faces backlash. Even among some people backing Wilson’s legislation, the reporting found caution: some supporters oppose additional taxes but say they want lawmakers to study alternatives because no clear replacement for declining gas-tax revenue has emerged.
Robert Poythress, a Republican Madera County supervisor who said he spent a day talking to lawmakers and rallying support for Wilson’s bill, said the issue is being driven by fear of political consequences. “It’s caught up in political drama and these guys are afraid of their political lives in the future, and so they succumb to all this pressure,” Poythress said. “Democrats could move forward quickly, (but) I think that they are scared to death themselves and just don’t have the political backbone.”
Poythress also said he expects revenue declines to continue affecting local road conditions. “We are right before the waterfall in terms of a big drop in revenues,” he said, noting that he serves on the state’s Road Charge Technical Advisory Committee formed in 2014 to study gas tax alternatives. He and other supporters argued that deferring maintenance can make roads more dangerous, especially where heavy vehicles regularly travel.
The reporting said the issue also concerns rural industries that rely on damaged-road repairs and whose vehicles do substantial wear. Kirk Wilbur of the California Cattlemen’s Association said the livestock industry needs transportation funding. “It really can’t be understated how essential it is … for the livestock industry that we properly fund our transportation system,” Wilbur said. “I know it’s a politically fraught issue, but what is entirely clear to me is that the status quo moving into the future is entirely untenable.”
The bill’s supporters said prior state research and pilot programs have already explored mileage-based charges since 2014, while other states have begun voluntary road-use charge programs. Assemblymember Corey Jackson, a Moreno Valley Democrat who supports Wilson’s bill but said it should go further, said the transportation funding problem has reached an urgent point. “We’ve got to do something. Accounts are running out of money, causing projects to be canceled and deferred,” Jackson said.
Meanwhile, Republicans opposing the legislation said the bill would impose a mileage tax, according to the reporting, even though the measure does not include language to implement a mileage tax. Following a largely partisan vote to pass the bill out of the Assembly, Assembly Budget Committee Vice Chair David Tangipa, a Fresno Republican, claimed at a press conference that the proposal would be a mileage tax plan, and Assemblymember Jeff Gonzalez, a Coachella Republican, said Republicans’ alternative would rely on the general fund.
As Wilson’s bill moves through the legislative process, backers said it has become a proxy for larger fights about taxes, even though it is designed to gather information before any policy decision. Wilson said legislators would still be years away from implementation even if the bill passes, and she said it would ensure lawmakers make a “data-driven decision,” adding there is “no silver bullet” to address declining gas-tax revenue.