MTC, legislators reset effort to put region's transportation future in voters' hands

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission will hold a special meeting on Wednesday, June 12, to discuss building regional consensus for state legislation that would authorize Bay Area voters as early as 2026 to consider a transportation revenue measure to preserve and enhance public transit in the region.

The scheduling of the special Commission meeting comes in the wake of yesterday’s announcement by state Senators Scott Wiener of San Francisco and Aisha Wahab of Hayward that they will pause the Connect Bay Area Act (Senate Bill 1031) introduced earlier this year and will introduce new legislation in 2025.

“Our Commission is most effective when it’s united,” said MTC Chair and Napa County Supervisor Alfredo Pedroza. “Discussions about Senate Bill 1031 at our regular May meeting made clear that the legislation as currently written doesn’t have the broad support it needs to be successful. But I know every one of our Commissioners is committed to working with all the members of the Bay Area’s legislative delegation to structure a ballot measure we can all get behind.” 

MTC over the coming months will convene key parties to help inform Sen. Wiener’s and Sen. Wahab’s efforts to reshape and refine the Connect Bay Area Act.  

“The Bay Area’s future depends on robust and reliable transit,” noted MTC Vice Chair Nick Josefowitz, who serves as the San Francisco mayor’s appointee to the Commission. “That requires robust and reliable funding. It’s a smart investment to spend more time developing a framework for legislation that will help meet the Bay Area’s transit needs.”