What Price Will Californians Pay for Decent Roads?

From PJ Media:

California Assembly Republicans say the Brown plan is worse than being a dark version of what has already failed. The GOP is united in the belief that Brown’s plan would toss billions of dollars at a problem that hundreds of billions of dollars haven’t been able to fix.

Republicans said their constituents were already paying the price of a state transportation bureaucracy that has botched the job of keeping roads and highways in good shape. Now, Brown wants to keep throwing good money after bad, they maintain.

“What are they doing with the taxes Californians have been paying at the pumps?” Sen. Jim Nielsen, the vice-chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said.

GOP leaders also said the state’s roads could be pothole-free without bureaucrats putting their fingers on taxpayers’ wallets. Assembly Republicans will be pushing a nine-point, $6.6 billion plan in January that would fix the roads “with existing resources." In other words, no tax increases.

Assembly Republican Leader Kristin Olsen said in September that she was glad the Brown administration had finally come to the realization that it was time to “streamline road repairs, utilize public-private partnerships, and get sparking about hiring at CalTrans to eliminate waste.”

“Unfortunately, the administration’s ideas call for more than doubling the vehicle registration fees and raising the price of fuel on all Californians – we disagree and think Californians have paid enough,” Olsen said. "Funds exist to fix our roads. It’s up to the majority party to recognize this.”

The Legislature wants to and has been siphoning money away from the road repair fund and transferred it toward public transportation for years. I don't believe that practice will end. It's all about doling out money to their favorite group. Unfortunately, it will lead to the worst case scenario:

The legislature does nothing and “these roads will disintegrate to the point where they’ll have to be rebuilt, which is very, very expensive,” said Sen. Jim Beall (D).

That I agree.