Come June, voters will be able to decide whether transportation revenues will in fact go toward transportation projects.
Highways, local streets and roads and public transit could feel the impacts of proposition 69.
It stems from fees almost everyone pays, both at the pump and the DMV.
The Road Repair & Accountability Act hiked gas and diesel taxes last November. New car taxes and fees also went into effect on the first of the year.
"It raises $5.2 billion a year ongoing for transportation improvements, fixing our local streets and roads and transit systems," said Ron DeCarli, San Luis Obispo Council of Governments executive director.
DeCarli explains Proposition 69 is a companion measure to the Road Repair and Accountability Act, also known as the Gas Tax or Senate Bill 1.
"What that does is constitutionally protects transportation revenue so that the state legislature cannot borrow it, cannot divert it for other purposes," DeCarli said.
Here’s what it means for voters:
"If it votes yes and it passes, then the state legislature cannot take money derived from transportation purposes like a vehicle fee, a gas tax, a registration fee," DeCarli explained. "If it does not pass, then the legislature can do what they have in the past, is borrow it for general fund purposes."
Local voters expressed where they stand on the prop.
"I’m thinking of voting yes on it because I like the idea of knowing where my money is going," said Teresa Marcial of San Luis Obispo.
Marcial says she’d like to see more local roads fixed.
"Right now, I’m thinking residential areas, mostly because the road I live on is really, really bad; potholes, it’s uneven," Marcial explained.
"I think if they’re taxing us here that it would be awesome if we could keep the money here instead of in Sacramento," said Los Osos resident, Celeste Smith.
DeCarli says the county sees about $15 million a year from SB1 and that’ll increase to $20 million annually over the next decade.
Essentially, prop 69 would keep gas tax money from going to the state general fund for politicians to use any way they see fit.
There are no known groups actively opposing prop 69.
