"California voters on Tuesday rejected Proposition 6, a measure to repeal a recent increase in the state’s gas tax and one that, in many ways, determines the fate of California’s roads, bridges and transit.
The measure would have repealed a law passed last year, called SB1, that increased the tax on gasoline by 12 cents and the tax on diesel by 20 cents per gallon. The same law also increased registration fees by an average of $50 per vehicle and imposed an additional $100 fee for vehicles that don’t use gasoline.
At stake was not just the estimated $5.4 billion annually from those taxes and fees to pay for road, highway, bridge and transit repairs, but also how the state could raise money to pay for transportation improvements in the future. Supporters of the measure painted the repeal initiative as a David-versus-Goliath battle pitting the needs of working families against Sacramento special interests."
Erin Baldassari reports for the San Jose Mercury November 6, 2018.