Newsom holding up a $750 million lifeline to Bay Area transit agencies, advocates say

A million loan to the Bay Area s transit agencies included in the current state budget to stave off major function cuts this year may be on the rocks The loan included in a budget deal between Gov Gavin Newsom and the Legislature earlier this summer was designed as a bridge to keep BART San Francisco s Muni AC Transit in the East Bay and Caltrain on the Peninsula afloat through The hope was that by then lawmakers could persuade voters to back a long-term funding source likely through a regional sales tax measure But the exigency aid is still in limbo The agreement required a separate bill to set the loan s terms bill that transit advocates say has been held up by the governor s office with less than two weeks left in the session The state loan has not yet materialized and the clock is running out on this legislative session commented Laura Tolkoff transportation initiative director for the urban protocol group SPUR which has been leading the charge to fund transit We have done our part we need them to do theirs The last day to pass bills is Sept In a report Newsom s communications director Daniel Villasenor explained that the administration supports our local transit agencies and remains open to reviewing proposals as we finalize the remaining budget items It s also unclear whether Newsom would definitely block the loan or whether the administration is slow-walking the bill to get leverage somewhere else as is common in the last days of the legislative session We re working hard to thread a tight needle here that will ultimately help sustain transit institution in the region while preserving the fiscal robustness of the state wrote Rufus Jeffris spokesperson for the Bay Area Council a business group that supports transit funding A transit bailout was going to be a tough sell this year as the state faces its own billion funding shortfall The state also already has provided various billion in emergency funding to transit agencies since the start of the pandemic That urgency funding is set to end next year and the region s transit systems are staring down major deficits in their - budgets million for BART and million for AC Transit Transit agencies warn that without the state funding they could be forced into a death spiral of major utility cuts and even more dramatic ridership declines Governor Newsom must follow through on his commitment to save Bay Area transit by finalizing the million loan that was promised in his budget commented SEIU President Theresa Rutherford If he does not the consequences will be devastating widespread cuts to bus and train organization far more traffic congestion on our bridges and freeways and mass layoffs But there s a question of how long Newsom will be willing to bankroll the transit agencies Already the administration pushed back against Bay Area lawmakers demand for a grant and forced them into a loan While transit advocates have been pushing the administration to make that loan zero-interest they may be forced to pay more The Legislature also must hold up its side of the bargain the million loan will only be authorized if the Legislature passes a longterm fix to fund Bay Area transit Lawmakers still are negotiating over a expected regional sales tax measure SB which which would allow voters to impose a half-cent sales tax in Alameda Contra Costa San Mateo and Santa Clara counties and a full cent in San Francisco If more than a majority of voters approve it the tax would raise up to billion annually over the next years for BART Caltrain San Francisco s Muni and other agencies Critics have argued that the transit agencies in particular BART haven t done enough to control their costs including adjusting services and staff to meet the reduced ridership they are seeing since the COVID pandemic Still SB is expected to pass in particular form But transit advocates worry that if the loan doesn t come through and services are cut that could erode voter endorsement for the measure when it appears on the November ballot We are grateful for this loan because it will prevent deep function cuts from happening before local voters get to weigh in on the probable ballot measure and as transit agencies seek local revenues to fund operations BART spokesperson Alicia Trost previously recounted this news organization