Proposition 1B: Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality, and Port Security Bond Act of 2006 - recommend No
Prop 1B is the second proposition in a raft of propositions kicked out by our legislature that are ostensibly oriented toward rebuilding California. It would authorize the state to issue bonds worth $19 billion to fund transportation projects. Of that $19 billion, $11.3 billion would go to highway and local road improvement (including a $1 billion allotment for State Route 99, which parallels Interstate 5 through the Central Valley and serves Bakersfield, Visalia, Fresno and Merced), $4 billion to public transit (largely to local rail programs), $3.2 billion to improving goods movement and air quality, and $1.5 billion for safety and security measures.
The goal of Prop 1B -- supporting our transportation infrastructure -- is clearly a good one. I'm even impressed by the attention paid to public transit. I am less impressed, however, by the grotesque bill of $39 billion California will have to pay to get this $19 billion up front. That's $20 billion burned on interest over the years -- and I guarantee that future generations will be looking back at us and bitterly complaining about how the debt load from our era is keeping them from maintaining transportation infrastructure.
As with Prop 1A, major supporters of this proposition include construction companies and road building groups, as well as the Automobile Club of Southern California and The California Alliance for Jobs, a group representing the interests of construction firms that has spent about a million dollars pushing this specific proposition.
Arguments for Prop 1B note that if we continue to underfund infrastructure as we've been doing, future generations will face an "infrastructure deficit" that they can't catch up with. True. Of course, if we borrow massively now to partially fill the current gap, then we're just swapping one future deficit with another. That's a no-win situation.
In the argument for, supporters of 1B once again trot out the claim that bond measures magically provide money "without raising taxes."
Spare me from arguments based on the financial wisdom of a college freshman with his first credit card. $39 billion in debt is a bad idea.
You can see who's spending money for Prop 1B here.
You can read the full text of Prop 1B here.
You can read my reviews and recommendations on the other propositions by clicking here.