On January 10th, Governor Brown released his 2017-18 State Budget proposal, which includes $4 billion in new annual investment for transportation to repair roads and help Californians travel more efficiently and sustainably. While the majority of the new revenue will be directed towards maintaining state highways and local roads, this proposal does provide meaningful increases to a variety of other road, transit, and active transportation programs that will help put California on a path toward meeting state climate and equity goals. The new revenue will be raised from a combination of gas and diesel taxes, vehicle license fees, and state climate investments from the possible extension of the Cap-and-Trade Program.
The Active Transportation Program (ATP)–the state’s dedicated source of funding for walking, bicycling, and Safe Routes to School projects–is slated to receive an additional $100 million per year from Cap-and-Trade proceeds in the proposal, with at least half to be invested in projects in disadvantaged communities. Though the proposal does not meet the unrelenting demand for these investments at the local level–totaling over $1 billion in requests annually–it would nearly double the ATP! The proposal would also invest an additional $400 million of Cap-and-Trade funds in new transit projects to expand our rail and bus networks statewide.
The Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition joins our allies across the state in applauding the Governor for proposing to significantly increase the state’s commitment to the Active Transportation Program in this year’s budget.