AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 18, 2026

AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 4, 2026

AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 2, 2025

AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 10, 2025

AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 23, 2025

AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 24, 2025

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

92

URGENCY STATUTE

Introduced by Senators Arreguín and Wiener

(Coauthor: Senator Becker)

February 21, 2025

An act to amend Section 67740 of the Government Code, relating to transportation, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.

Vote: 2/3   Appropriation: no   Fiscal committee: no   Local program: no

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

Existing law creates the Metropolitan Transportation Commission as a local area planning agency for the 9-county San Francisco Bay area with comprehensive regional transportation planning and other related responsibilities. Existing law establishes the Public Transit Revenue Measure District, governed by the same board that governs the commission, with jurisdiction extending throughout the boundaries of the Counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, and Santa Clara, and the City and County of San Francisco. Existing law authorizes a retail transactions and use tax applicable to the entire district to be imposed by the board of the district or by a qualified voter initiative for a duration of 14 years, and in specified amounts, subject to voter approval at the November 3, 2026, statewide general election. Existing law establishes specified procedures for that election, including a requirement that the elections officials of the counties where the measure will appear on the ballot mutually agree to use the same letter designation for the measure.

This bill would revise those election procedures by, among other things, instead requiring the measure to be identified on the ballot by the designation “Regional Transit Measure” in each county included in the district and by requiring each county elections official in the district to select, from among the submissions of proposed arguments in favor of, and against, the measure, the arguments to be included in the county voter information guide of that county, as specified.

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Section 67740 of the Government Code is amended to read:

67740.

(a) If the board of the district or a qualified voter initiative proposes a measure for the approval of a tax ordinance adopted pursuant to Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 67730), the board of supervisors for each of the counties that comprise the district shall call a special election on the tax ordinance. The special election shall be consolidated with the November 3, 2026, statewide general election and the tax ordinance shall be submitted to the voters of each county comprising the district.

(b) For the purpose of the placement of a tax ordinance on the ballot, the Public Transit Revenue Measure District is a “district,” as defined in Section 317 of the Elections Code. A measure proposed by the board that requires voter approval or a qualified initiative measure proposed for the district by the voters of the counties comprising the district shall be submitted to the voters of the counties that are contained in the district, in accordance with the provisions of the Elections Code applicable to districts, including Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 9300) of Division 9 of the Elections Code.

(c) If the measure is proposed by a qualified voter initiative, after the petition has been filed, the county elections officials shall examine the petition in accordance with subdivisions (a) and (b) of Section 9308, or subdivisions (a), (b), and (c) of Section 9309, of the Elections Code. It is the intent of the Legislature that county elections officials shall cooperate with the district elections official to resolve any issues arising from the counting or verification of signatures.

(d) Notwithstanding any provision of the Elections Code, the legal counsel for the district shall prepare an impartial analysis of the measure. Each county included in the district shall use the election materials provided by the district, including the exact ballot question, impartial analysis, and the full text of the ballot measure, for inclusion in the county voter information guide.

(e) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), the lead county of the district, as defined in paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 9611 of the Elections Code, shall perform those duties specified in Section 9611 of the Elections Code to be performed by a lead county.

(2) (A) Notwithstanding any provision of the Elections Code, an individual voter who is eligible to vote on the measure or a bona fide association of citizens, or a combination of those voters and associations, may file a written argument for, or against, the measure. The authors shall submit those arguments to the elections official of the county in which the authors want the arguments printed in the county voter information guide. Each county elections official in the district shall select, from among submissions of proposed arguments in favor of, and against, the measure, the arguments to be included in the county voter information guide of that county.

(B) If more than one argument for or more than one argument against the measure is submitted to a county elections official, that official shall select one of the arguments in favor and one of the arguments against the measure for printing and distribution to the voters. In selecting the argument, the county elections official shall give preference and priority in the order named to the arguments of the following:

(i) The individual voter or bona fide association of citizens, or a combination of those voters and associations, who are the bona fide sponsors or proponents of the measure.

(ii) Bona fide associations of citizens.

(iii) Individual voters who are eligible to vote on the measure.

(C) In order to enable the county elections official to determine whether it qualifies as a bona fide association of citizens, an organization or association submitting an argument for or against the measure shall submit with its argument a copy of one of the following:

(i) Its articles of incorporation, articles of association, partnership documents, bylaws, or similar documents.

(ii) Letterhead containing the name of the organization and its principal officers.

(iii) If the organization or association is a primarily formed committee established to support or oppose the measure, its statement of organization filed pursuant to Section 84101.

(D) In selecting an argument from among bona fide associations of citizens, the county elections official shall not consider the type of documentation submitted pursuant to subparagraph (C) or the form of the association.

(E) Each county shall be responsible for providing arguments to authors for rebuttal purposes and translating the arguments and rebuttals submitted to that county, except if the same argument or rebuttal is submitted to more than one county, then translation shall proceed consistent with subdivision (f).

(f) If two or more counties included in the measure are required to prepare a translation of ballot materials into the same language other than English, the county that contains the largest population, as determined by the most recent federal decennial census, among those counties that are required to prepare a translation of ballot materials into the same language other than English, shall prepare the translation or authorize the district to prepare the translation, and that translation shall be used by the other county or counties, as applicable.

(g) (1) Notwithstanding Section 13116 of the Elections Code or any other law, in each county included in the district the measure shall be identified on the ballot by the designation “Regional Transit Measure” instead of under the name of the district.

(2) Notwithstanding Section 13109 of the Elections Code or any other law, in each county included in the district the measure shall appear on the ballot immediately after statewide ballot measures submitted to the voters and before all other local ballot measures submitted to the voters.

(h) The county clerk of each county shall report the results of the special election to the district. If the approval threshold required by the California Constitution at the time of the election is achieved, the measure shall take effect in the district in accordance with the requirements of this title. For purposes of determining whether the measure is approved, the approval threshold shall be assessed based on the cumulative vote within the entire district, and not separately within each county comprising the district.

(i) (1) Notwithstanding Section 10520 of the Elections Code, the district shall reimburse each county that comprises the district from funds made available pursuant to Section 67750 only for the incremental costs incurred by the county elections official related to submitting the measure to the voters with proceeds from the measure.

(2) For purposes of this subdivision, “incremental costs” includes both of the following:

(A) The cost to prepare a translation of ballot materials into a language other than English by any county, as described in subdivision (f).

(B) The additional costs that exceed the costs incurred for other election races or ballot measures, if any, appearing on the same ballot in each county in which the measure appears on the ballot, including both of the following:

(i) The printing and mailing of ballot materials.

(ii) The canvass of the vote regarding the measure pursuant to Division 15 (commencing with Section 15000) of the Elections Code.

SEC. 2.

This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the California Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:

In order for this act to take effect in time for the November 3, 2026, statewide general election, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.