As Fresno County eyes train on Sacramento, a new issue is emerging behind the connections between the biggest financial benefactor of the Better Roads, Safe Streets initiative – a potential successor to Measure C – and Gov. Gavin Newsom. 

The Central Valley Community Foundation, the initiative’s main backer, collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in charitable contributions at the demand – legally dubbed a “behest” – of Gov. Gavin Newsom, raising concerns about likely conflict of interest.

What we’re watching: Asm. Esmeralda Soria (D–Fresno) and Sen. Anna Caballero (D–Merced) amended Assembly Bill 1923 on Monday to require the Fresno County Board of Supervisors to place the Better Roads, Safe Streets initiative on the ballot ahead of Friday’s deadline. 

The bill will be heard by the Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee and Assembly Elections Committee on Wednesday and will require a vote on the Senate floor and in the Assembly in order to head to Newsom’s desk. 

Newsom’s connection: The Governor has come under recent scrutiny for requesting money from donors for his wife’s nonprofit, the California Partners Project. 

The Center Square reported Monday that Newsom has directed $4.28 million in donations to the California Partners Project. 

The Central Valley Community Foundation, run by former Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin, has served as a fiscal sponsor for the California Partners Project since 2020, the organization told the Washington Free Beacon last month. Since the California Partners Project is a 501(c)(4) organization, donors must go through the Central Valley Community Foundation as its fiscal sponsor in order to make tax-deductible donations. 

According to records from the Fair Political Practices Commission, Central Valley Community Foundation collected $280,000 in contributions at the behest of Newsom. They included:

$50,000 from Blue Shield of California in October 2025

$80,000 from the Lisa Stone Pritzker (LSP) Family Fund in February 2026

$50,000 from Omidyar Network Services LLC in January 2026, the left-leaning philanthropy arm of former eBay executive Pierre Omidyar.

$100,000 from Vanguard Charitable in January 2026, the charitable arm of investment advisory giant Vanguard Services.

Funding Better Roads, Safe Streets: The Central Valley Community Foundation has been the largest financial backer of the Better Roads, Safe Streets initiative, which has been supported by Fresno Building Healthy Communities and Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, among other groups. 

According to campaign finance filings, the Central Valley Community Foundation contributed $810,000 in support of the measure in the first six months of the year. 

The campaign for the initiative – officially named Fresno County Residents for Better Roads and Safe Streets, sponsored by nonprofit community organizations and labor organizations – reported $1.35 million in fundraising for the first half of the year. 

Lobbying Newsom: Swearengin told GV Wire on Monday that she was surprised that the Better Roads, Safe Streets initiative has a new chance of making it onto the November ballot after it was effectively stalled when the Board of Supervisors ordered a study on the measure. 

She said she did not know the bill from Soria and Caballero was an option until Sunday evening. 

“To see the assemblymember be willing to step forward and provide the leadership to make sure, assuming this goes through … to make sure Fresno County voters have a chance to decide their own future here, I think it’s pretty incredible,” Swearengin told GV Wire.

But the Better Roads, Safe Streets campaign has been officially working on this since early last week. 

Veronica Garibay, the Executive Director of Leadership Counsel for Justice Accountability and the principal officer of the campaign, signed a lobbying agreement on July 28 authorizing lobbying firm Olson Remcho LLP to work with the state on behalf of the campaign.