SACRAMENTO — As state legislatures across the nation grapple with declining funding to maintain roads, bridges and other transportation infrastructure, California lawmakers are confronting the unintended consequences of policies aimed at achieving ambitious environmental goals.
Gov. Jerry Brown has called on the state to expand its landmark global warming law by slashing gasoline consumption in half and adding 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles by 2030.
But California depends on taxes paid at the pump to fix roads. For more than 20 years, the state and federal government have charged separate 18-cent per gallon taxes for road maintenance, a rate that has not kept pace with inflation or been adjusted to address falling fuel use as Californians drive more fuel-efficient vehicles. State revenues slid from $2.87 billion in 2003 to $2.62 billion in 2013, even as the state's population has increased and vehicles are driving more miles.
"Each year, we fall further and further behind, and we must do something about it," Brown said in his January inaugural address.
Federal gas tax money is also drying up.