The Governor & legislative leadership still haven’t come up with a compromise to send a Prop 400 transportation tax renewal proposal to Maricopa County voters. Last legislative session a clean proposal was passed by the legislature but was vetoed by Ducey. According to a decades-old law, the legislature has to approve the packages voters are allowed to consider. That’s not the case in any of the other counties.
A proposal has been worked out by the Maricopa Association of Governments that would dedicate 40% of the tax (if approved by voters) to freeways, 22% for big roads and 38% for transit, and 3.5% for rehabilitation of the existing light rail system.
The hang up on getting a deal is with that 3.5% for light rail rehab. The as of yet released legislative proposal (R) would lower transit funding to 36.5% instead of 40%… the difference being the 3.5% for rail. A different one separates Prop 400 into two ballot questions. The first would dedicate $0.43 of the half-cent sales tax to freeways, arterials, and buses; the second question would distribute the remaining $0.07 to mass transit. Voters would then vote on those two separately.