Hurtling toward a fiscal cliff – POLITICO – POLITICO

Passengers board a Bay Area Rapid Transit train in Oakland, Calif. A bill to create some stopgap funding for public transit agencies like BART stalled on Monday in the Legislature. | Ben Margot/AP Photo

DRIVING THE DAY: Lawmakers in Sacramento today are convening for a joint hearing on Gov. Gavin Newsoms prized Mental Health Services Act reform bill. The Assemblys Housing and Health committees, chaired by Buffy Wicks and Jim Wood, respectively, will hold an informational briefing before the Health Committee takes a vote later in the day.

THE BUZZ The future of Bay Area transit agencies is once again in limbo after an effort to bridge a gap in funding stalled Monday.

A bill by state Sen. Scott Wiener to temporarily raise tolls on seven area bridges by $1.50 was paused by the author this week amid discord in the Bay Area delegation. Wiener said he plans to work with his regional colleagues through the fall in hopes of a consensus.

But Mondays decision to hold the bill does mean delaying a solution to a problem that is already running up against the clock.

The hope was to use the increased toll revenue to keep the buses and trains running as federal funds dwindle and agencies recover from the post-pandemic ridership slump. But some lawmakers, including members of Congress, balked at the idea of raising costs for commuters.

And others simply said they refuse to fund the agencies until they agree to more oversight and accountability.

They dont deserve a bailout until they can get their act together, said Democratic state Sen. Steve Glazer, who represents much of Contra Costa County. I want the transit agencies to thrive, but you cant just keep giving them money when they refuse to adhere to any basic standards of responsibility.

For months, agencies like BART and MUNI have been sounding alarms about a rapidly-approaching fiscal cliff as emergency federal relief funding runs out and ridership remains low. The situation reached a crisis level earlier this year when Newsom proposed slashing $2 billion from their budget. Advocates and Bay Area lawmakers were able to turn that around, eventually securing $400 million over the next four years. But Wiener and backers say its still far too short of the $2.5 billion needed to keep the trains running on time literally.

Without more money from the state, they said, the Bay Area could see a reduction in services in the next year or two.

Its very disappointing, and its a blow to our efforts to maintain Muni service after federal pandemic relief funds run out next year, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency spokesperson Erica Kato said n a statement.

At its core, this is a question about San Franciscos future. The citys downtown and entertainment districts have struggled to recover after the pandemic. Empty office spaces, the loss of high-profile retailers and sprawl of homeless encampments and drug use have painted an unsavory picture of one of Californias crown jewels.

A loss of public transit would not only delay the recovery, Wiener argues, but could reverse it altogether.

No matter how upset any of us might be with a particular transit system, the question is will the Bay Area be a better or worse place if BART falls apart and MUNI has to slash service, he said in an interview. And I think the answer is, unequivocally, itll be a worse place.

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HAPPY TUESDAY. Thanks for waking up with Playbook.

PLAYBOOK TIP LINE Which bills are you hoping will make it off the suspense file later this month? Which ones are you expecting to fail? Let us know.

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Or drop us a line at [emailprotected] and [emailprotected], or on Twitter @DustinGardiner and @Lara_Korte

WHERES GAVIN? Nothing official announced.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: This evening, Los Angeles received another bus from Texas. That means that while we were urging Angelenos to stay safe, the Governor of Texas was sending a bus with families and toddlers straight towards us KNOWING theyd have to drive right into an unprecedented storm. Evil. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass in a tweet Monday night.

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Republican presidential candidate and radio show host Larry Elder stands on the grand concourse during the national anthem at the Iowa State Fair on Aug. 10. Elders recent financial disclosures show how he makes his money. | Charlie Neibergall/AP Photo

ELDER ECONOMICS Presidential candidate Larry Elder fell a few polling points shy of qualifying for the first GOP debate Monday night, but a new document filed Monday showed us just how the Sage of South Central and perennial California candidate makes his moolah.

Per his own disclosure, Elder, who has spent decades building his brand as a bombastic conservative radio show host, columnist, author and film producer, gets most of his money as a consultant to the right-leaning media outlet, Epoch Times. Elder teamed up with the outlet in 2020 to launch a web series known as The Larry Elder Show. He lists earning between $1 million and $5 million from the outlet.

He also sits on the board of directors of an Oklahoma bank known as Old Glory, along with former HUD Secretary Ben Carson, earning a salary of more than $100,000.

He also is an adviser to an Ohio-based messenger app company known as Freedom Chat, and owns his own business, Laurence A. Elder & Associates Inc., which he started in 1979.

He lists over two dozen other avenues of income including earning between $100,000 and $1 million promoting the anti-inflammatory supplement Relief Factor (You mightve seen his commercial on Fox News.). He also made between $100,000 and $1 million as a consultant with his own PAC, Elder for America.

Two other California politicians also pop up in his disclosure state Sen. Shannon Grove and Republican Senate candidate Eric Early both gave up between $5,000 and $15,000 as an honorarium, which is often used to denote fees for speaking engagements.

SIGNING SEASON Want California voters to pass your policy? Its time to get going: Todays the last day to submit a ballot initiative if you want to maximize your chances at success, per the secretary of states recommended timeline. As of Monday, there were 26 in various stages of the process:

Four (4) qualified for the 2024 ballot: Two referenda, one challenging a fast food labor law and the other challenging a ban on new oil wells near homes; and two Legislature-passed constitutional amendments, one on public housing and one on same-sex marriage.

Five (5) with enough signatures to be eligible: Voters could decide on measures to fund pandemic prevention by taxing the rich, raise the minimum wage, repeal a law allowing private labor lawsuits, make it harder to raise taxes and enable more local rent control.

Five (5) cleared for circulation: Three constitutional public education guarantees, one push to repeal changes to how inherited property is taxed and one effort to decriminalize shrooms.

Eleven (11) awaiting title and summary: See for yourself.

Jeremy B. White

A message from Heat Pump Nation Inc.:

Suspect named in fatal shooting of California store owner over a Pride flag, by NBCs Matt Lavietes and Andrew Blankstein: Travis Ikeguchi, 27, was responsible for shooting Laura Ann Carleton, 66, to death after yelling many homophobic slurs about the stores Pride flag Friday, San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus said at a news conference Monday.

LGBTQ students are returning to hostile school environments even in California, by the San Francisco Chronicles Erin Allday: Pressure campaigns, largely led by conservative parent groups, have successfully lobbied school boards to out students gender-affirming requests, censor curriculums and ban books and Pride flags. In some cases, school board clashes have become intense and even violent.

Drug overdose death rates for every U.S. county, by the San Francisco Chronicle: In an effort to better understand the emergence of drugs like fentanyl, which is exceedingly cheap, accessible and lethal, The Chronicle developed this tracker using mortality data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which bases its estimates on reports from coroners and medical examiners around the country.

TRANSITIONS Tessa Browne is now comms director for Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.). She recently got a master of public administration degree from Columbia SIPA.

Longtime public affairs strategist Amy Thoma Tan on Monday announced the launch of Cobalt Public Affairs in Sacramento. Also joining the firm of counsel is former independent member of the legislature Chad Mayes.

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CORRECTION: A previous version misstated the total state funding advocates say is needed to keep Bay Area transit functioning over the next four years. It is $2.5 billion.

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Hurtling toward a fiscal cliff - POLITICO - POLITICO