Sacramento County sales tax hike for new expressway, light rail, roads soundly defeated

Measure A, a proposed sales tax increase that would have helped fund a new expressway connecting Elk Grove and Folsom, an expansion of the light rail system and other transportation projects in Sacramento County, has been defeated.

The measure trailed 55.3% to 44.7% in a Friday update. It was behind by roughly 35,000 votes, with less than 145,000 votes left to count in the county. The measure would have increased the sales tax in Sacramento County by one half of 1% for the next 40 years, raising an estimated $8.5 billion.

Measure A’s defeat is among the largest political upsets in recent Sacramento history.

The campaign behind the measure, funded largely by deep-pocketed developers and construction unions, had reported spending more than $2.5 million as of Oct. 22, the most recent filing with county election officials.

The opposition campaign, meanwhile, never filed paperwork with county election officials to report contributions. That group was led by environmentalists, transit advocates and taxpayer groups.

“Fortunately for the Sacramento region, voters were awakened to the dangerous impacts of sprawl and the poor timing of a sales tax hike,” said Anne Stausboll, who chaired the Mayors’ Commission on Climate Change for the cities of Sacramento and West Sacramento and was a key member of the opposition campaign. “Thanks to input from environmental experts and the help of the press, the false claims made by Measure A proponents were exposed. No one believes that more roads and freeways will improve air quality.”

Michael Quigley, executive director of the California Alliance for Jobs and a co-chairman of the tax measure campaign, said his group was “disappointed since Measure A would have invested in better roads, reduced congestion and cleaner air across all Sacramento communities.”

“We respect the will of the voters so we’ll evaluate these results and determine next steps to ensure adequate transportation funding for the region,” he said.

The measure had limited success. It was approved in a handful of communities south of Fruitridge Road in Sacramento, neighborhoods along Highway 99 and in parts of Elk Grove. It also had support in Sacramento’s central city and in neighborhoods of North Sacramento.

However, the measure had little support east of Watt Avenue. In some precincts of Folsom – where the campaign held its official kick-off earlier this year – the measure barely received 30% of the vote. Many of the precincts along the planned expressway connecting Elk Grove and Folsom also turned down the measure.

This story was originally published November 18, 2022 at 3:39 PM.