The following story first appeared in Fresnoland. It is reprinted with permission.<\/p>\n
The battle to find a successor for Fresno County\u2019s soon-to-be-expired transportation tax just found a bigger arena.<\/p>\n
On Monday morning, Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria, a Democrat and former Fresno city councilmember, rewrote a proposed statewide healthcare bill that had been in the works for months into an \u201cemergency statute\u201d requiring Fresno County to place qualified signature-led initiatives on the November ballot.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The bill, co-authored with state Sen. Anna Caballero, does not hide its intention to get the\u00a0Better Roads, Safe Streets<\/a>\u00a0initiative qualified for the November ballot as a replacement for Measure C, Fresno County\u2019s transportation tax, which expires in June 2027.<\/p>\n AB 1923<\/a>\u00a0says a \u201cspecial statute\u201d is necessary because of \u201cunique fiscal circumstances facing the County of Fresno arising from the expiration of its local transportation tax.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cVoters and the residents of Fresno County should have the opportunity to decide the future of Measure C without delay,\u201d said Brody Fernandez, a spokesperson for the state lawmaker\u2019s office in a statement Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n The move from the pair of Fresno-area state lawmakers comes after\u00a0a controversial vote at the Fresno County Board of Supervisors last month<\/a>\u00a0that delayed placing the Better Roads initiative on the ballot until after the completion of a 30-day study. That meant voters likely wouldn\u2019t get to weigh in on the issue until 2028.<\/p>\n The board-majority said their intention in asking for the study was to avoid potential litigation over a measure that they called too \u201cprescriptive\u201d to the county. Multiple supervisors had long been critical of the Better Roads proposal before the July 14 vote, with Board Chair Garry Bredefeld routinely calling the measure a \u201cscam\u201d that overfunds public transit.<\/p>\n Proponents of Better Roads, on the other hand, decried the move as a political game intended to prevent the measure \u2014 which garnered more than 30,000 signatures from county registered voters \u2014 from qualifying for the November ballot by the Aug. 7 deadline.<\/p>\n If Measure C expires without a replacement, cities are anticipating budgetary shortfalls measured in the tens of millions.<\/p>\n The\u00a0City of Fresno has projected the loss<\/a>\u00a0of roughly $54 million annually, 217 jobs and the elimination of weekend evening service on FAX. Clovis anticipates to take a $6.3 million hit annually. The Fresno County Rural Transportation Authority expects to lose about $4 million each year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Before the supervisors\u2019 vote,\u00a0county staff<\/a>\u00a0also said they expect to lay off 90 employees without a Measure C replacement.<\/p>\n Fernandez said the bill will go before the Assembly and Senate Elections Committees in hearings on Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cIf passed in the Senate Elections Committee,\u201d he added, \u201cit will move to the Senate floor where it will be eligible for a vote on Thursday.\u201d<\/p>\n The bill\u00a0will require a two-thirds vote in both houses of the state legislature<\/a>\u00a0to pass since it\u2019s an \u201curgency\u201d measure set to take effect immediately upon approval.<\/p>\n Soria and Caballero\u2019s move has some precedent in state politics. Referred to as\u00a0\u201cgut-and-amend\u201d<\/a>\u00a0by lawmakers, the procedure involves the drastic rewriting of legislation\u00a0late in the law-making process<\/a>. At times, the practice has been seen as\u00a0controversial<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also not the first time the state legislature has intervened in local transportation policy.<\/p>\n Michael Lane, policy director at the San Francisco-based think tank SPUR, was involved when the state legislature authorized\u00a0the placement of a transportation funding measure on the ballot<\/a>\u00a0in the Bay Area in\u00a02018<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, Lane said that move was endorsed by a coalition of Bay Area counties, setting up a collaborative effort between multiple levels of government. He noted that difference with Fresno County\u2019s situation, describing it as \u201ca board of supervisors that is trying to run out the clock as opposed to, for the next general election, place that measure on the ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n Lane also called Fresno\u2019s situation \u201cunprecedented.\u201d Specifically, he was surprised to see the state lawmakers step in.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s an important move by the legislature,\u201d he said, \u201ctrying to protect that legislative process and the ability of the citizens to gather signatures and place a measure on the ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n Bredefeld framed Soria and Caballero\u2019s move as them \u201crewriting the rules.\u201d When asked if the county would litigate the matter, he said all options are on the table.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will consider every option available to us to protect our citizens,\u201d Bredefeld told Fresnoland, \u201cfrom these corrupt Sacramento politicians and their disgraceful efforts to influence our local elections in order to help their radical friends implement a 30 year tax scheme.\u201d<\/p>\n Fernandez countered that the only unprecedented action in this case is coming from the county supervisors.<\/p>\n \u201cThe legislature regularly passes laws to ensure local elections are conducted fairly and in a manner that accurately captures the will of the voters,\u201d Fernandez said. \u201cWhat is unprecedented is the Fresno Supervisors using their authority to request a report on an initiative strategically to push that initiative off the ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that Soria\u2019s office reviewed the legislation with legal counsel to ensure it\u2019s \u201clegally sound.\u201d<\/p>\n Soria\u2019s office is likely right.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lane said that for more than 100 years, the\u00a0California Constitution<\/a>\u00a0has granted unique powers to voters, often allowing them a lower-barrier to introduce new legislation. He said that power has often held up in court.<\/p>\n \u201cIn general, because of that legislative history,\u201d Lane said, \u201cthe courts tend to be deferential to citizens, particularly when they\u2019re collecting signatures to place a measure on the ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n But the voters\u2019 initiative power hasn\u2019t been without contention. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers\u2019 Association, a notable anti-tax group,\u00a0successfully qualified<\/a>\u00a0a measure for California\u2019s November election that aims to limit future taxes brought through citizen-backed petitions. If approved later this year, it will raise the threshold of voter approval that citizen-backed petitions must cross from a simple majority to two-thirds.<\/p>\n Had that threshold been in place in the past, ballot measures like Measure P in Fresno \u2014 which garnered 53% of support in 2018 \u2014 wouldn\u2019t have passed.<\/p>\n The Better Roads campaign thanked the state lawmakers for \u201cstanding up for Fresno County taxpayers, working families, and local communities\u201d in a statement on Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n Just three days earlier,\u00a011<\/a>\u00a0mayors<\/a>\u00a0within the Better Roads coalition, including Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer, had sent letters to Soria and Caballero on July 31 asking for their \u201cassistance in finding a path forward for the Fresno County Transportation Improvement Act to be placed on the November 2026 General Election ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n Dyer\u2019s office declined to comment further for this story.<\/p>\n