An Orange County state senator, who won a special election in June that was triggered by California’s recent gas tax increase, wants transportation officials to remove the signs that point out road repairs paid for with the funds.
Sen. Ling Ling Chang (R-Diamond Bar) wrote to Caltrans officials last week to protest the signs as “inappropriate” given voters might repeal the tax hike in November with Proposition 6.
“No matter what the issue, it is not the job of taxpayer-funded state departments to influence public opinion on matters considered on the ballot,” Chang wrote in a letter to Laurie Berman, the director of Caltrans.
The signs feature a logo for “Rebuilding California,” the name given to the state’s project for allocating some $5.2 billion in new revenues from the law, which went into effect last fall. Motorists now pay higher gas and diesel taxes, and the state imposed a new annual vehicle registration fee. The revenue will go toward repair projects around the state, some of which have already begun.
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