Traffic congestion bill gets through Senate committee

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Apr 9, 2008 | by Erik N Nelson

A bill that would charge Bay Area residents an extra $1 when they re-register their vehicles cleared its first legislative hurdle Tuesday, handily winning a majority of votes from members of the state Senate Transportation and Housing Committee.

The bill would double what Bay Area vehicle owners now pay -- $1, which was levied in 1986. That fee originally was used to set up a system of call boxes but it has evolved into a comprehensive system to fight traffic congestion, run by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

Raising $6 million a year, the fee would make up for the loss in value of that original dollar and allow the program to continue providing tow trucks and other measures to keep roadways running as smoothly as possible, said the bill's author, Sen. Leland Yee, D- San Francisco.

Sen. Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, said the fee also would help the environment.

"You're also helping reduce the carbon footprint, helping with global warming reduction," when congestion is reduced and vehicles aren't idling for long periods, he said.

Torlakson chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, which also needs to approve the bill.

About half of the Bay Area's congestion comes from disabled vehicles or other obstacles to traffic, said Randy Rentschler, an MTC lobbyist and spokesman who testified in favor of the bill.

Working to quickly clear wrecks and objects that fall out of passing vehicles has a major impact for a relatively small cost.

The bill is one of two that the commission is supporting in Sacramento.

On Monday, the Assembly Transportation Committee will consider the other one: a bill authored by Assemblyman Jared Huffman,

D-Petaluma, that calls for letting the voters decide if the MTC should add a fee of up to 10 cents per gallon of gas.

The commission already has the authority to put a transportation "tax" on the ballot, but it would require a two-thirds vote to pass.

The fee, which is legally different in that its proceeds must be limited to a specific use, would require only a simple majority of 50 percent plus one.

One member of the committee, Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, voted against Yee's bill to levy the extra $1 per vehicle registration.

"This looks like a way to circumvent Proposition 218," which requires new taxes to win voter approval, he said. "The voters, that's who they should make their case with."