San Mateo County leaders calling for more public transportation funding

SAN MATEO COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) -- Supervisors, city council members and other leaders held a press conference in San Mateo County on Monday calling for more funding to public transportation.

Public officials are hoping San Mateo County opts into Senate Bill 63.

The bill would create the Transportation Revenue Measure District.

So far, the bill includes Alameda, Contra Costa and San Francisco counties, but it's also giving San Mateo County and Santa Clara County a chance to opt in.

With that district established it could propose a new retail transaction and use tax to help fund public transportation.

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CalMatters reports that while several jurisdictions and groups are in support of the measure, others like the California Taxpayers Association say they're against it for several reasons. They say creating the district duplicates existing tax authority and that the tax would have an impact on low-income residents.

But San Mateo County supervisors Noelia Corzo and David Canepa say with agencies like Caltrain and BART dealing with a growing deficit, the measure is necessary.

"We need BART to not just continue its service, but improve its services. And we have to be part of that. We have to help fund it. And we also would help fund Caltrain and anything extra that comes from this county would come back and could be invested in SAM trans, could be invested in other transportation efforts that will really," said San Mateo County Supervisor Noelia Corzo.

Supervisor Corzo said the SamTrans board would be the ultimate decision maker on whether San Mateo County decides to join the other counties to opt in to the measure.

She said that while there would be options for a quarter-cent and half-cent tax, she prefers the half cent.

Corzo says San Mateo County has until the first week of August to opt in.

Then efforts would be made for voters in all of the counties involved to decide on the tax in the November 2026 election.