Public Transit

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San Mateo County: Transit 4 All

SamTrans Votes to Opt In to Regional Funding Measure (SB 63)!

GREAT NEWS! On August 6, our county’s transit agency, SamTrans, voted for San Mateo County’s participation in a five-county regional funding ballot measure (Senators Weiner & Arreguín’s SB 63). If voters approve the citizens ballot measure in November 2026, we’ll save our transit agencies AND prevent fossil-fuel emissions by keeping cars off the road. Our hundreds of public comments––made in person in San Carlos, via Zoom, and by email––over the past several months sure paid off!

What’s the catch? The original funding proposal for SB 63 is a 1/2 or 1/4 cent sales tax that would hit working people in San Mateo County hard AND fail to raise enough revenue to prevent service cuts, given rising inflation and arbitrary tariffs. That’s why transit operators, activists, and SamTrans Directors David Canepa and Jackie Speier are still recommending a gross receipts tax on businesses, a solution which has 61% support from likely voters! A progressive tax of 0.012% on the top 2% of businesses would transform our public transit across the county, but Chair Jeff Gee and Assemblymember Diane Papan appear to be more interested in protecting business interests than in improving service to meet riders’ needs. The California Senate has until September 12 to approve the bill with any last-minute amendments, so we’ll continue to contact our rep Senator Josh Becker to push for a gross receipts tax to secure maximal funding for SamTrans and San Mateo County.

Thanks for your help, comrades! A better world is possible—if we fight for it.