Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry Votes to Fund Crumbling State and Local Transportation Infrastructure

Sacramento, CA – Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D – Winters) voted in support of SB 1 (Jim Beall), to fund the decades-long backlog of fixes to state and local roads, bridges, and transit systems.

"When our leaders asked for my support for this effort, I told them I needed several things to be on board: protecting transportation funds from budget raids; a fix-it first plan; fair share for small and rural communities; and, an even funding split between state highways and local streets and roads," said Aguiar-Curry. "I take very seriously asking our people to pay more in taxes, but this plan meets those goals and starts the process of restoring the transportation system that is so critical to our people and economy."

The bill will provide $5.2 billion in new funds per year, with $2.6 billion committed to state programs ($1.9 billion for maintenance to the state highway system, $300 million to trade corridors, and almost $400 million to congestion relief programs), and $2.6 billion to local programs ($1.5 billion distributed directly to cities and counties for local street and road maintenance, $850 million for transit, bike, and pedestrian access programs, and $200 million in incentive grants to counties with local transportation sales taxes like Napa and Sonoma Counties). Part of the package also includes a constitutional amendment that will prevent the state budget from raiding transportation funding for non-transportation purposes – a common practice in the state budgets of the Great Recession.

"Our broken roads cost drivers over $750 a year in repairs, farmers have a hard time getting their produce to market, and transit service cuts and increased fares hurt working families," Aguiar-Curry declared. "We've ignored our maintenance responsibilities for too long. I may not have been here to create the problem, but I am among our state's leaders who are willing to step up and begin fixing it, while also creating thousands of jobs that will go with this critical investment."

A breakdown of anticipated funding for the cities and counties of the 4th Assembly District is attached.

SB 1 - The Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017 - will invest $52.4 billion
into California transportation over the next 10 years

Cecilia Aguiar-Curry represents California's 4th Assembly District, which includes all of Colusa, Lake, and Napa Counties, all of Yolo except West Sacramento, and Dixon in Solano County and Rohnert in Sonoma County.