Publication Detail

Local Option Sales Taxes, Metropolitan Planning Organizations, and SB 375: A Question of Priorities

UCD-ITS-RR-23-24

Research Report

National Center for Sustainable Transportation

Suggested Citation:
Barbour, Elisa and Noah Thoron (2023) Local Option Sales Taxes, Metropolitan Planning Organizations, and SB 375: A Question of Priorities. Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California, Davis, Research Report UCD-ITS-RR-23-24

This report considers the role of local option sales taxes (LOSTs) for transportation in influencing spending patterns in regional transportation plans adopted by Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) in California’s four largest metropolitan regions. Through quantitative analysis of information on LOST measures placed on the ballot from 1976 to 2022, and through case studies of recent LOSTs placed on the ballot in two counties, patterns in LOST expenditure by mode and purpose are compared over time and across regions, and with spending allocated by MPOs in their long-range regional transportation plans.

Key words: Local Option Sales Taxes(LOSTs), county sales tax measures for transportation, Metropolitan Planning Organizations(MPOs), Senate Bill 375, transportation funding and finance in California