More Bottlenecks for LA County Sales Tax

I have added a link to a great blog that addresses Southern California transportation issues. It is the Bottleneck Blog by Steve Hymon. He has been tracking LA County's sales tax path to the ballot. He recently reported that State Senator Jenny Oropeza may kill the sales tax bill to pay for a Green Line extension to LAX.

Now that the sales tax ballot measure has passed the Board of Supervisors. The bill must pass the legislature. Senator Oropeza has the "catbird seat" of being a swing vote on the Senate Appropriations Committee for or against the ballot measure.

Below is a quote from the article.

State Sen. Jenny Oropeza put it in no uncertain terms when I spoke to her late this Friday afternoon: she is prepared to kill the bill that would allow a half-cent sales tax increase to go on the November ballot in Los Angeles County to pay for road and transit projects.

“I said in order for the bill to pass the Senate, it is going to have to contain the Green Line extension,” Oropeza, (D-Long Beach), told me. “They” — Los Angeles County transportation officials — “understood that. They are playing a game of chicken and blaming the Legislature. I am praying to God they do the right thing. I don’t want to see this thing go down either.”

I asked her if she was prepared to try to kill the bill — and any chance of a vote in November. Oropeza firmly answered: “Yes I am.”

Stay Tuned: If the bill has not passed by the end of the week, then no dice & no ballot measure.