SB 63 Fact Sheet – Updated 4.17.25
SUMMARY
SB 63 authorizes a 10- to 15-year regional public
transportation operations sales tax measure on the
November 2026 ballot in specified Bay Area
counties to provide critical funding for transit
agencies with major operations shortfalls.
Specifically, SB 63 authorizes a ½-cent sales tax
measure in Alameda, Contra Costa, and San
Francisco Counties – with up to 1 cent in San
Francisco to provide greater Muni funding. SB 63
provides San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties the
opportunity to decide to opt into the measure by
July 31, 2025, and envisions determining the exact
rate structure by July 31, 2025. SB 63 states the
preference of the legislature for San Mateo County
to opt into the regional funding measure.
SB 63 sets ironclad requirements on how funding
from the regional funding measure shall be
distributed. The bill envisions the development and
completion – during the legislative process – of a
“Transit Operations Financial Responsibility and
Implementation Plan (“T-FRIP”) that outlines target
funding contributions to BART, Muni, Caltrain, AC
Transit, and regional transit improvements,
informing funding distributions from the measure
to those operators and initiatives.
SB 63 also includes accountability measures to
improve financial efficiency and regional
coordination for the transit operators receiving
funding through the regional funding measure.
BACKGROUND/EXISTING LAW
Public transportation continues to be an essential
service for Bay Area residents and visitors that also
helps meet state climate and housing goals. Shifting
travel patterns due to and after the pandemic have
led to significant reductions in transit trips taken and resulting operating deficits on major systems such as
BART, Muni, AC Transit, and Caltrain. While transit
1 BART Fiscal Cliff Presentation
2 Muni Funding Working Group Service Cut Scenarios
3 MTC Travel Survey Summary
agencies are working to improve cost efficiencies
and transit ridership has been recovering, one -time
emergency federal and state aid will be exhausted in
the coming years, requiring a longer-term solution to
maintain critical services. If additional funding is not secured, transit agencies will be forced to make
major service cuts. BART has reported that even
closing down almost 20% of its stations, eliminating
entire lines, moving to hourly frequencies, and
closing the system at 9pm would still leave it with an
enormous $200 million deficit if additional funding is
not secured.1 Muni has said it would have to consider
service cuts as intense as reducing frequencies up to
50%, suspending lower utilized routes, suspending
historic transit services, and moving to owl service
only from 9pm to 6am.2
Close to 60% of Bay Area public transportation riders
use transit five or more days per week and 91%
expect to ride transit the same or more next year. 3
According to recent polling, 2/3 rd of likely Bay Area
voters agree that Bay Area public needs more
operations funding, and a majority of likely voters in
Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, and San
Mateo counties would support a sales tax to provide
this critically needed funding.4
After consensus over a larger 9 -county
transportation measure authorization that could
have provided multimodal investments did not
materialize in 2024, the Metropolitan Transportation
Commission (MTC) engaged in additional outreach
via a Transportation Revenue Measure Select
Committee.5 The Sele ct Committee consisted of a
variety of elected officials, business, civic, labor, and transit advocacy groups from across the region. The
Select Committee discussed specific potential
revenue measure scenarios that varied by
geography, revenue sources, and expenditure plans.
While consensus around a specific scenario was
elusive, stakeholders provided important feedback
4 MTC Polling Report
5 Transportation Revenue Measure Select Committee
Site
Senator Scott Wiener, 11th Senate District
Senate Bill 63 (Wiener, Arreguin) – Connect Bay Area Act
SB 63 Fact Sheet – Updated 4.17.25
to guide further efforts. The Select Committee
concluded with a final report and recommended
specific revenue measure scenarios for polling.6
Polling Shows Voter Support for Transit
Among the options that The Select Committee
recommended to poll were a 10 -year ½ -cent and
variable rate transit operations sales tax in Alameda,
Contra Costa, San Francisco, and San Mateo
counties. While this sce nario did not achieve
complete political consensus, it did comfortably poll
with greater than simple majority support. Further,
aspects of the scenario reflected general consensus
by regional stakeholders of a need to at a minimum
find a medium-term solution to address major transit
deficits for BART, Muni, Caltrain, and AC Transit.
SOLUTION
SB 63 authorizes a 10- to 15-year regional
transportation revenue measure to contribute
additional operating revenues to public
transportation agencies with major deficits. The bill
authorizes such a measure only on the November 3,
2026 statewide election ballot in a special district
with voter initiative authority consisting of at least
Alameda, Contra Costa, and San Francisco counties.
SB 63 specifies that the counties of San Mateo and
Santa Clara may opt into the revenue measure by
July 31, 2025, and specifies that it is the preference
of the legislature that San Mateo County opt into
the measure, with the rate to be determined.
Acknowledging a need to build additional consensus
on specific contributions by specified counties to
specified transit operators, and how counties that
may not participate in the regional measure intend
to fund regional public transportation services and
when, SB 63 calls for the development of a Transit
Operations Financial Responsibility and
Implementation Plan (“T-FRIP”) to be completed
during the legislative process to inform such
contributions, including the expenditure plan of the
regional measure authorized by SB 63.
SB 63 sets ironclad requirements on how revenues
from the measure shall be distributed. Specifically,
it requires MTC to distribute regional revenue funds
at specified levels informed by the T-FRIP to BART,
6 Select Committee Final Report
Muni, Caltrain, AC Transit, and regional transit
initiatives. Revenues not needed for measure
administration or T-FRIP funding are returned to the
participating revenue measure counties,
unconditioned, for public transit expenses.
SB 63 requires MTC to condition T-FRIP transit
operations funding on key accountability
requirements to improve cost-efficiencies and
regional coordination for transit operators receiving
funding from the measure. Specifically, it requires a
financial efficiency review of BART, Muni, Caltrain,
AC Transit, and MTC Transit Transformation
Initiatives. As a condition for receiving continued
funding from the measure, transit operators must
submit an implementation plan to MTC after the
financial efficiency review is completed that details
planned efficiency measures and associated cost
savings. SB 63 also requires transit operators to
comply with regionally adopted policies and
programs related to the 2021 Bay Area Transit
Transformation Action Plan as a condition of
receiving funding from the regional measure. MTC
is required to annually report on the progress of its
network management initiatives. These provisions
will help increase coordination amongst transit
agencies and drive up transit ridership.
Finally, SB 63 also provides additional local self-help flexibility for the counties of San Francisco and San
Mateo to renew or propose local sales taxes in 1/8th
-cent increments, as opposed to the currently
permitted ½-cent or 1 cent increments.
SUPPORT
SPUR
IBEW Local 6
Bay Area Council
Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART)
San Francisco County Transportation Authority
Climate Action California
SEIU California (Support in Concept)
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Raayan Mohtashemi, Legislative Aide
Senator Scott Wiener
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (916) 651-4011
SB 63 Fact Sheet – Updated 4.17.25
Luis Amezcua, Legislative Director
Senator Jesse Arreguin
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 916-651-4007