Wiener and Arreguín introduce SB63 for regional transit funding

Senators Wiener and Arreguín have introduced SB63 to authorize five Bay Area counties to run a regional funding measure for public transit. Unless voters pass a new funding measure and the agencies fix their finances, BART and Muni will be forced to cut service, drivers will face more traffic, and SF’s recovery will stall.

The facts

BART and Muni are facing huge deficits and are warning of deep service cuts in the near future. To save them, State Senators Scott Wiener and Jesse Arreguín want to put a new sales tax on the ballot in 2026. The tax proposal, called Connect Bay Area Act (or SB63), would authorize San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa counties to place tax measures on their ballots in 2026. San Mateo and Santa Clara may opt-in, too, if they want.

The context

The five counties need authorization from the State to run a regional measure due to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission lacking the authority to run anything other than a gas tax, and the need for a special district to allow collection of signatures.New taxes must go to the ballot due to Prop 13 (1978). These measures require 66% of voters to approve them, which is a big hurdle to pass. But there is a second path to the ballot that only requires 50% of voters to approve: a citizen signature initiative. Due to legal rulings in 2020 (City and County of San Francisco v. All Persons Interested in the Matter of Proposition C, and Fresno v. Fresno Building Healthy Communities), citizen initiatives don’t fall within Prop 13’s supermajority requirement, so a simple majority of voters will suffice.

The GrowSF take

We wish the last administration did more to prevent this, and the new administration seems to feel similarly frustrated that past leaders let the city sleepwalk into this crisis. “The funding crisis we face today had been anticipated for years and necessary changes were not made,” Mayor Lurie said just this week.Mayor Lurie is planning a separate citywide Muni funding proposal (promising that any new funding will come with strings attached to improve efficiency and accountability), but Senator Wiener says the measures won’t compete, and both are vital.Investing in public transit is just as important as investing in roads and highways. It’s difficult to find a single, comprehensive, estimate of the amount of funding taxpayers provide for highways, but at least $2 billion was spent on Bay Area highways in 2024 alone. So let’s make sure transit gets its fair share, too.