Local Assemblywoman Wants Transportation Funds Restored for Road Repairs

TEMECULA, CA - A Riverside County lawmaker Wednesday proposed a bill to have hundreds of millions of dollars in transportation funds that were set aside to pay California's debts put back into road maintenance to help fund infrastructure repairs.

"The governor and legislative Democrats have insisted that raising taxes is the only way we can fund the much-needed repairs to our crumbling roads. I am not buying it," said Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore.

"This legislation is one example of how a responsible government prioritizes how it spends the taxpayers' hard-earned dollars," she said.

Assembly Bill 351 calls for about $1 billion in vehicle weight fee revenue that was diverted into the state's Transportation Debt Service Fund in 2011 to be returned to the State Highway Account to meet infrastructure needs.

Weight fees are collected from commercial trucking operations to offset the costs of heavy conveyances utilizing California streets and highways.

According to Melendez, the state's General Fund -- for which the Transportation Debt Service Fund is a backstop -- has expanded by $36 billion over the past six yaers, yet weight fee dollars haven't been returned to the highway account.

"Vehicle weight fee dollars were stolen amidst recessionary times, and it is about time we saw those funds redirected back toward transportation funding," according to a Melendez statement appended to AB 351.

According to the lawmaker, an estimated $5.9 billion is required to fix and rehab state roads, while another $7.8 billion is needed for local roads.

Under the legislation, the weight fee revenue would have to be repaid by Dec. 31, 2018.

- City News Service / Image via Shutterstock