San Mateo County legislators prioritize money and climate bond

But Charles Lawlor, spokesperson for state Sen. Josh Becker, D-San Mateo, pointed to funding strides for grade separation projects across the Peninsula as a “huge victory.”

Although funding for grade separations — which would realign roads over or under railways to decrease accidents and congestion — wasn’t secured for the upcoming budget, $75 million was promised for the 2025-26 cycle, Lawlor said.

An additional $75 million was promised for the 2026-27 budget.

“It’s written into the budget that the Department of Transportation will identify the projects that are most in need, and these funds should be awarded,” he said. “Once that report is delivered, then begins the process of sending out those funds.”

The Broadway Caltrain crossing in Burlingame is currently delineated as the most dangerous in the state, with Mountain View and Palo Alto both in the top seven.

Local legislators were originally pushing for more than $113 million in funding from the California State Transportation Agency’s Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program for grade separation projects.

Vehicle License Fee reimbursement

Assemblymember Diane Papan, D-San Mateo, said that a successful effort to reimburse San Mateo County for VLF revenue — which accounts for 18%, or $41 million, of the county’s operating funds — was another major success.

“You’ve got to bring the delegation together,” Papan said of the coalition effort to ensure VLF reimbursement was included in the budget. “We met with our various budget chairs on the Assembly side and the Senate side.”

The state originally planned to withhold what it owes to San Mateo County, one of only three counties denied such funds, because a dearth of nonbasic aid districts in the county meant the state had less of a legally binding obligation to pay it back.

VLF funds will be reimbursed on a two-year lag, so more than $70 million owed to the county and respective cities for the 2022-23 year should be released shortly, David Burruto, Papan’s district director, said.

Despite difficult cuts on issues like climate, Papan said lawmakers fought to retain budget provisions in key areas like education and child care.

“We did the best that we could to keep a lot of core programs going,” she said.

Climate bond

California voters will see a $10 billion climate bond on their upcoming November ballots that, if passed, will allow the state to borrow money for flood and drought prevention, wildfire mitigation and clean water, among other climate issues.

Papan, a co-author of the Assembly version of the climate bill, said its reduction from an original $16 billion asking price was designed to balance it with another proposal, a $10 billion school bond.

“We spent a lot of time trying to determine what should survive, where there should be cuts,” she said. “We had to be very surgical. One program could tolerate more cuts than others.”

Funding for wildfire prevention and protection could be key for San Mateo County, Lawlor said, including building up Cal Fire’s aerial fleet, currently the largest in the world, as well as investing in wildfire mapping technology.

“One of the huge victories that we are very proud of was our renewed commitments for investments in wildfire prevention, detection and suppression,” he said. “We’re spending considerable amounts of funds to not only detect wildfires, but also respond to them as quickly as possible.”

The bond would give $85 million to the San Francisco Bay Restoration Agency and San Francisco Bay Area Conservancy Program, Papan said. County agencies can then apply for that funding to use for specific projects, although there will also be other opportunities to receive money through the bond.

“There are other ways, other monies, that we can apply for and competitively bid for,” she said, expressing confidence in Bay Area agency success in the grant application process. “It’s not just limited to $85 million.”

Upcoming bills

Proposed bills from Papan and Becker’s office in various stages of the legislative process include regulation on artificial intelligence, toxin-free tampons and various climate initiatives.

The proposed California Artificial Intelligence Transparency Act, authored by Becker and approved by the state Senate, went to the Assembly for approval in late May.

“It gives consumers the right to have to have the ability to determine whether or not AI-generated content is actually AI generated,” Lawlor said. “It will require a marker on AI-generated content.”

The bill would require creators to disclose whether content was generated with the help of AI and provide tools for consumers to query if images, video or audio they see online was generated with AI.

Papan previously proposed a bill to increase paid family leave access for employees, as well as legislation to ban forever chemicals, like PFAs, from menstrual products.

“Obviously, this year the art of it was to have bills that weren’t gonna have a huge fiscal impact otherwise you’re gonna spin your wheels and not go very far,” she said.

Both legislators are also focused on climate issues, with Becker proposing a bill that would allow multiunit properties like schools to use solar energy they generate without selling it to the power grid and purchasing it back.

Legislation from Papan’s office, if passed, would expedite the geothermal well approval process by allowing applicants to go through the California Environmental Quality Act at a local level, rather than the state.