What’s at stake?
After Wednesday’s hearing, the fate of the Better Roads, Safe Streets tax measure to fund Fresno County transportation spending is largely in the hands of state policymakers — though the Fresno County Board of Supervisors has made it clear they’ll fight Sacramento by any means necessary, including litigation.
California lawmakers on Thursday will have an opportunity to vote on Central Valley Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria’s last-ditch effort to place the Better Roads, Safe Streets proposal on Fresno County voters’ ballots this November and circumvent delays from the Board of Supervisors.
That comes after a 4-1 decision by the California Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee on Wednesday to move Soria’s bill, AB 1923, to the senate floor. A Thursday vote would leave just one day to spare before the Friday deadline for local measures to qualify for the November ballot.
“For me, this passes the smell test in terms of popular support from across the county,” said state Sen. Benjamin Allen, a Santa Monica Democrat, at the hearing. “At the end of the day, all this is doing is giving the voters the opportunity to decide whether this merits their support or not.”
The committee vote fell along party lines, with the lone Republican on the five-member body, Steven Choi of Irvine, voting “no” on the bill that he said “tramples local control.”
“Unfortunately, I cannot support this rushed measure that was only put into print two days ago,” said Choi, vice chair of the committee.
Wednesday’s hearings took place just two days after Soria, with support from state Sen. Anna Caballero, rewrote a healthcare bill that had been in the works for months into an “emergency statute” requiring Fresno County to place qualified signature-led initiatives on the November 2026 ballot.
The move from the pair of Fresno-area state lawmakers came after a controversial vote at the Fresno County Board of Supervisors last month that delayed placing the Better Roads initiative on the ballot until after the completion of a 30-day study, likely precluding the measure that garnered more than 30,000 signatures from the November ballot.
“I’ve never done a bill this expeditiously. I take my time and I work really hard,” Caballero acknowledged during the senate hearing, “but this is really important to the county of Fresno, and it’s very important to all of these people who have spent the last number of years working, negotiating, compromising and putting pen to paper to try to extend a tax measure that’s going to benefit their community.”
The senate committee meeting was the second of two hearings at the state capitol on Wednesday related to Soria’s AB 1923.
Supporters of Better Roads traveled hundreds of miles to pack both the morning and afternoon committee meetings in Sacramento. At least 60 of those proponents formally registered their support at each hearing.
Several urged the state lawmakers to support the bill, citing concerns about the dire cuts to transit services and funding for road repairs, not to mention employee ranks, that cities across Fresno County are projecting if voters don’t pass a successor to the county’s longtime transportation tax, Measure C, before it sunsets next summer.
A handful of individuals who showed up in person to register opposition to Soria’s bill hinted that the Fresno County Board of Supervisors will likely sue if AB 1923 passes.
“The fact that you’d be asked to send this to the governor by tomorrow would be a mistake. Trust me,” said Paul Yoder, an advocate and lobbyist who spoke on behalf of the Fresno County Board of Supervisors at both hearings. “There probably will be litigation.”
It’s unclear how likely a legal challenge from the Fresno County Board of Supervisors is to prevail.
One expert emphasized to Fresnoland on Monday that the California Constitution has historically granted citizens a lower barrier to introduce new legislation and that the courts have tended to uphold that power.
Supervisor Garry Bredefeld, chair of the board, plans to unveil more of the county’s legal options to fight AB 1923 at a press conference Thursday morning, according to a news release sent on Wednesday about a half hour before the first hearing in the state capitol began.
“Fresno County leaders are calling on the Governor to refrain from signing AB 1923,” the release reads, “to ensure that decisions are made solely in the public interest and by elected local leaders who are accountable to their constituents.”
Bredefeld’s release also notes he will be joined by other longtime critics of Better Roads, Safe Streets, including fellow Fresno County Supervisors Buddy Mendes and Nathan Magsig, as well as Reedley Mayor Matthew Tuttle and Clovis Mayor Pro Tem Diane Pearce.
AB 1923 will be eligible for a vote in the California State Senate on Thursday. If it were to pass with the required two-thirds vote, it will move to the California State Assembly. If both chambers pass it, it will move to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk to sign.
If the governor signs AB 1923 into law, it’s still murky what comes after that.
Fresno County Clerk James Kus said in a brief interview Wednesday that it’s unclear what immediate next steps would be required of the county, including whether the Board of Supervisors would still need to call a meeting and take a ministerial vote to place Better Roads on the November ballot.
County spokesperson Sonja Dosti also said in an email Wednesday that the county is still examining these questions, “so it’s premature to discuss at this point.”
Brody Fernandez, a spokesperson for Soria’s office, said the bill “would trump anything the board could do” to prevent Better Roads from getting on the ballot in a text message Tuesday.
