“The passage this month of California Senate Bill 63, authored by state Sen. Scott Wiener and now awaiting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature, should pave the way for a one-of-a-kind ballot measure shared between five Bay Area counties — including San Francisco — in November 2026,” reported Adam Shanks for the San Francisco Examiner on Sept. 24.
The Bay Area has passed three “regional measures” under the coordination of the region’s metropolitan planning organization, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), all designated for transportation, since 1988, and all remarkably similar as each increased tolls on the region’s seven state-owned bridges. In fact, one of the bill’s two primary co-authors, Sen. Scott Wiener, had initially introduced a bill to enable a bridge toll hike measure similar to the first three successful regional measures but he suspended it in August 2023 amidst opposition.
“If approved, the measure would allow the counties to impose an additional sales tax of 1% in San Francisco and 0.5% in other counties to help fund public-transit operations,” added Shanks. The other four counties are San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda and Contra Costa…