In March, Mayor Garcia Told Key Sac'to Lawmakers That City Supported Passage Of SB 1 Gas Tax Hike, Did So Without Explicit Council Voted Approval, Avoiding Public Discussion; See His Letter (Less Than A Year After LB Sales Tax Hike)
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(October 31, 2017) -- Less than a year after telling LB voters that LB needed a "blank check" LB sales tax hike (Measure A) in large part for road repairs, Mayor Robert Garcia avoided public discussion and didn't seek City Council voted approval in sending a letter to two key state Senate and Assembly committee chairs supporting the SB 1 gasoline tax increase. Effective November 1, SB 1 will require CA drivers to pay 12 cents more in CA tax per gallon and increase CA's annual car registration fee a couple of months later, on top of LB's sales tax increase that has left LB consumers paying the highest sales tax rate among all CA cities (tied with only a few others.)
In his March 23, 2017, Mayor Garcia wrote that "in Long Beach, voters have made it apparent that investments to State and local infrastructure are long overdue. The Long Beach electorate voted to adopt a new 1% local sales tax in June 2016 to fund improvements to transportation, parks, and public safety; adoption of SB 1/AB 1 would be consistent with this interest...While the City has committed local funding to an aggressive infrastructure investment plan, State funding is needed to maximize the benefits." Garcia's letter concludes: "Given these reasons, the City of Long Beach is proud to support SB 1/AB 1."
To view Mayor Garcia's March 23, 2017 letter in full, click here.
Under LB's City Charter, the City Council sets policy and LB's Mayor has no vote or policy-setting authority. Section 202 of the LB City Charter specifies in pertinent part: "The Mayor shall have no vote, but may participate fully in the deliberations and proceedings of the City Council. The Mayor shall be recognized as head of the City government for all ceremonial purposes...[and] shall represent the City at large and utilize the office of Mayor to provide community leadership and as a focal point for the articulation of city-wide perspectives on municipal issues."
Neither the City Council's Mayor-chosen "state legislation committee" (Austin, Gonzalez, Mungo) nor the full Council took any voted action to support SB 1 by name, which allocates a portion of its gas tax for local road repairs. Committee chair Councilman Al Austin boasted at an April 4 Council meeting that he and his committee had helped advance SB 1, but LB's 2017 state legislative agenda doesn't mention SB 1 or a gasoline tax increase. It states that the City of Long Beach will support policies and legislation "to secure the maximum amount of State funding for the construction and maintenance of local roads, infrastructure, transportation projects and major corridors."
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Garcia also co-signed a March 23 letter with four other Mayors (L.A., SF, Oakland, San Jose) [with a letterhead including City of LB's official seal], to the same Sac'to committee chairs, urging passage of the SB 1 gas tax increase.
Regarding the Long Beach City Charter's Mayoral requirements, Mayor Garcia arguably didn't provided visible or audible "community leadership" or articulate a "city-wide perspective" on SB 1, declining to agendize SB 1 for Council action on which he could lead, and didn't seek Council voted approval for SB 1. Doing so would have allowed the public to be heard, and potentially in opposition to the Mayor's position, which the Council tacitly chose not to hear.
The LB area's Dem Sac'to legislators -- state Senator Ricardo Lara (D, LB-Huntington Park), Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D, NLB-Paramount) and Assemblyman Patrick O'Donnell (D, LB-San Pedro) -- all voted for SB 1. LB-area Repub State Senator Janet Nguyen (R, SE LB-West OC) voted against it.
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SB 1 also contained a provision, opposed by the Coalition for Clean Air and the Sierra Club, that environmental groups said could dilute, delay or possibly derail anti-pollution measures aimed at curtailing truck pollution that continues to disproportionately impact Long Beach and much of S.E. L.A. County. The added text, opposed by the Coalition for Clean Air called an "Assault Our Lungs" provision, was inserted by Sac'to Dem leadership to gain trucking industry support for SB 1's 20 cent/gallon diesel fuel tax increase.
Neither Mayor Garcia, nor Councilman Austin, nor any incumbent LB Councilmembers publicly raised that issue in which some LB neighborhoods would be inequitably and disproportionately impacted.
