"A sales tax increase to fund the Bay Area's struggling transit systems appears to be headed to the ballot in November 2026. The California Legislature up against its deadline to pass bills last Friday approved SB 63, which allows a ballot measure to move forward, ending a multiyear political debate over how to make up for pandemic revenue loss across systems like BART, Muni, and Caltrain - and who should pay for it."
""Keeping our trains and buses running frequently and reliably is essential for the future of the Bay Area," said Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat who authored the bill and stressed that the measure is critical to ensuring the Bay Area's transit systems don't go off a "fiscal cliff." Since ridership plummeted during the pandemic, the Bay Area's transit systems have been reliant on emergency funding to help them close their yearly budget deficits."
SB 63 was approved by the California Legislature before a bill-passing deadline and allows a sales tax measure to proceed to the November 2026 ballot, with Gov. Gavin Newsom expected to sign by Oct. 12. The measure aims to raise revenue for Bay Area transit systems including BART, Muni and Caltrain after pandemic ridership declines. Transit agencies have relied on emergency aid such as $5.1 billion allocated in the 2023 budget and a potential loan up to $750 million to cover deficits. Debates stalled over funding type and impacts, with business groups backing a sales tax and labor and climate advocates favoring payroll or gross receipts taxes, while concerns about regressivity and local allocation persisted.
Read at The Mercury News
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