Energy

Californians Are Revolting Against Dems Who Voted For Gas Tax Hike

REUTERS/Max Whittaker/File Photo

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Chris White Tech Reporter
Font Size:

Californians are pushing back against the Democratic lawmakers who passed the largest gas tax in the state’s history last month.

Citizens have signed signatures for a recall effort against Democratic state Sen. Josh Newman for his vote in favor of for the Road Repair and Accountability Act, and another lawmaker is moving forward on an initiative to repeal the unpopular gas tax.

The law, passed April 6, imposes a 12 cents a gallon hike on citizens and raises the tax on diesel fuel by 20 cents a gallon. It also implements an additional charge to annual vehicle license fees ranging from $25 to $175 depending on the car’s value.

Democrats in the state legislature forced the measure along party lines. Only one Republican — state Sen. Anthony Cannella — voted in favor of the measure after receiving $500 million in kickbacks for a commuter rail extension in his district. But Cannella’s Democratic colleagues are the lawmakers being targeted.

Gov. Jerry Brown’s decision to support and approve the law has prompted three Southern California radio talk show hosts to embark on a recall campaign targeting Newman, a first-term Democratic legislator who barely edged out his Republican opponent in November.

“That’s the only thing that works, is to take one of their team members out, politically,” Ken Chiampou, a co-host of “John and Ken” on KFI-AM in Los Angeles, told reporters Thursday. “If there’s no consequence, no punishment, then they’re going to keep right on doing this crap.”

Chiampou’s pursuit of Newman comes after California Republican Assemblyman Travis Allen filed a ballot initiative May 8 to repeal the $52 billion gas tax.

“In 2010, Jerry Brown said, ‘there should be no tax increases without a vote of the people.’ Repealing the gas tax will simply help him keep his promise to California voters,” Allen said in a press statement announcing the initiative.

“Adding insult to injury,” Allen noted, “this massive new tax will not build any new roads, and it will do nothing to fix California’s worst in the nation traffic. In fact, Brown’s new gas tax legislation actually has specific language that will reduce lane capacity and increase traffic.”

Allen’s organizers must cobble together 365,880 voter signatures to qualify the measure.

Brown, for his part, goaded the Republicans during the legislative session for opposing what he called a common-sense tax.

“The Republicans in Sacramento want to fix our roads,” Brown told reporters at the time, but “they expect the tooth fairy to pay the $5 billion every year.” The law makes California the second highest gas tax in the country behind Pennsylvania. The Golden State’s gas tax would increase from 40. 00 to 52.00 cpg.

Opponents also argue the measure is cold comfort for those wanting infrastructural improvements.

Gas taxes are supposed to provide revenue for road construction, maintenance, repair, and improvements, but states typically divert much of the money to other sources. In 2013, gas taxes and motor vehicle license fees paid for 40 percent of state and local road spending.

Lawmakers inserted an amendment into the bill that would place an initiative on the 2018 ballot preventing the tax from being transferred to the general fund. The tax opponents are worried the state’s attorney general, a Democrat, will write summary language for the initiative making it nearly impossible to understand its intent.

Democrats, meanwhile, are casting about looking for life rafts to protect them from irate voters.

Brown was in Southern California earlier this month to visit the districts of two vulnerable Democratic lawmakers – Assemblywoman Sabrina Cervantes and state Sen. Richard Roth – both of whom face rough elections in competitive districts next year because of their support for the nation’s highest gas tax.

Brown’s office did not respond to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment about the recall campaign or the repeal initiative.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this article noted that the tax increase would make California the state with the highest gas tax in the union. The state was number one on the list in 2016, but it is now the second highest as of 2017.

Follow Chris White on Facebook and Twitter

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel