One of the key ways California is working to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions is by encouraging Californians to drive electric cars. And the strategy is working, but it also may be backfiring.
Last week, a report was released projecting a $6 billion dollar decrease in revenue from gasoline and diesel taxes over the next 11 years. Frank Jimenez is the Senior Fiscal and Policy Analyst at the Legislative Analyst's Office, and he authored the report. He says some of that $6 billion will be earned back by the state in other ways.
“There are increases in certain fees, such as the road improvement fee that's charged to zero emission vehicles. So some portion of that is being offset by increases in zero emission vehicles that pay this annual charge.”
But those fees are only estimated to make up about one-and-a-half billion of the $6 billion revenue. And the remaining deficit may mean trouble for public transit, road and highway conditions in California, which funds state spending on transportation through gasoline and diesel taxes.
So, the report recommends that the state think about long term plans to make up this missing revenue. They could increase existing vehicle fees and gas taxes, or they could use money from the state’s general fund. Again, Frank Jimenez.
“They could also reduce spending on transportation as revenues decline or could adopt new charges that we haven't seen before, such as a road charge or a vehicle mile travel fee or implement taxes on alternative fuels that ZEVs use, such as electricity or hydrogen.”
With climate change altering weather patterns throughout the globe, the threat of worsening road and highway conditions is alarming.
During last winter’s storms several Bay Area highways flooded and some roads were even destroyed. But Jimenez says there isn’t a short-term concern for funding in case of major infrastructural damage.
“The state still is maintaining a certain level of funding that can support our maintenance needs. And at the same time, we have federal partners where if disasters do occur, the state can receive federal funding to help support that infrastructure when it does fail under disaster.”
