The Governor of California proposed a budget for FY 2007/2008 that included provisions to reallocate $1.3 billion in gasoline sales tax revenue that had been targeted for transit operations, maintenance, and capital projects to other statewide programs. The HIA examined how the proposed cuts to transit funding could impact public health through air, water, and noise pollution; economics, land-use, physical activity, discretionary time, and social capital. The HIA noted that the proposed cuts would have unpredictable impacts on California’s complex public transit systems and predicting health impacts is difficult. For smaller agencies that lack other resources to make up the funds and for transit-dependent populations, such as children, seniors, and low-income and disabled persons the impacts could be significant.
Outcome
On August 21, 2007 the California State Legislature approved a budget for fiscal year 2007 that included the Governor’s proposed re-direction of $1.3 billion in transportation “spillover” funds to the State’s General Funds.
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This Health Impact Assessment Report first appeared in The Cross-Sector Toolkit for Health. The Cross-Sector Toolkit for Health was originally developed by the Health Impact Project, formerly a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts. The creation of this resource was supported by a grant from the Health Impact Project. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Pew Charitable Trusts, or the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
