Politics & Government
CA Gas Tax: Murrieta Lawmaker Seeks Investigation
State Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez questions whether laws were broken as the bill made its way through the Legislature.
RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA: Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore, is asking the California Department of Justice to investigate whether there were laws broken to secure passage of the $52-billion gasoline tax package -- a possibility that Gov. Jerry Brown Wednesday roundly dismissed.
Melendez sent a letter to Attorney General Xavier Becerra Tuesday citing her concerns over "numerous reports ... of deals to earn" the support of some legislators who were on the fence about whether to back Senate Bill 1, the Road Repair & Accountability Act of 2017.
She pointed specifically to Senate Bills 132 and 496, which were amended just ahead of SB 1's passage on the night of April 6 to commit hundreds of millions of dollars for transportation infrastructure projects in Corona, Jurupa Valley, Altamont and Merced.
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Melendez described the action as a "standard quid pro quo exchange."
Lawmakers who touted the benefits of those two bills for their districts included Assemblywoman Sabrina Cervantes, D-Corona, Sen. Anthony Cannella, R- Merced, and Sen. Richard Roth, D-Riverside. Roth signaled days before SB 1 came to a vote that he planned to oppose it, while Cervantes insisted she was "undecided."
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Melendez expressed concern in her letter to Becerra that Article 4, section 14 of the California Constitution may have been violated in the deal-making process. The section reads, "A person who seeks to influence the vote or action of a member of the Legislature in the member's legislative capacity by bribery, promise of reward, intimidation or other dishonest means, or a member of the Legislature so influenced, is guilty of a felony."
"I am for working toward a solution and understand the need for compromise, but there is a big difference between compromise and bribery," Melendez said. "The governor, Speaker Anthony Rendon and (Senate) President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon doled out one billion taxpayer dollars in deals to buy a handful of legislators' votes to pass their gas tax. I believe if the attorney general actually looks into this, SB 1 will be found illegal."
Melendez also suggested that the federal Hobbs Act and the federal Honest Services Fraud Act may have been violated.
The AG's office did not immediately respond to City News Service's request for comment.
Brown told reporters in Sacramento Wednesday that negotiating in the Legislature to win support for bills is "(how) democracies work."
He said there was not a whiff of bribery involved in lining up the required supermajorities in the Assembly and Senate to pass SB 1, which he called a "consensus product."
The governor has not set a date for when he will sign SB 1 into law, but his spokesman told CNS that it could happen any time.
The bill will add 12 cents in taxes for regular gasoline, 20 cents for diesel and an additional 5.75 percent increase in diesel sales taxes, which opponents say will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices for goods shipped via truck. SB 1 will also push vehicle license fees up by an average $40 a year.
De Leon, Rendon, the governor and other backers say the tax hikes will generate revenue that will pay for infrastructure repair and building projects for the next decade.
Critics contend that funds authorized under Proposition 42, the Transportation Congestion Improvement Act of 2003, have been wasted instead of spent on road work, and plenty of transportation revenue would be available if the over-budget High Speed Rail Project was scuttled and more than 3,000 Caltrans positions deemed "redundant" by a state inspector general were eliminated.
