Organizers with the Connect Bay Area Act, a regional sales tax measure for public transit, collected 305,895 signatures across five Bay Area counties, well above the 186,000 required threshold to place it on this year’s ballot.
Voters in the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, San Francisco, and Santa Clara will vote this November on the sales tax measure Senate Bill 63 — more commonly known as the Connect Bay Area Act — that would create a new source of funding for several public transit agencies facing budget deficits.
The state legislature passed SB 63 in 2025 after being introduced by state senators Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, and Jesse Arreguin, D-Berkeley. It created a new entity, the Public Transit Revenue District, that encompasses the five counties.
The law also authorized placing a regional sales tax measure on the November ballot that, if approved by voters, would start a 14-year sales tax of half a cent in each county except San Francisco, where it would be one cent — projected to generate $1 billion annually for public transit agencies.
In California, a voter-approved regional measure for a new sales tax would normally require a two-thirds majority approval if the Legislature directly places it on a ballot. Transit advocates, however, chose to collect signatures to make the sales tax a citizen-initiated ballot measure that would lower the threshold to a simple majority of votes cast.
Organizers with Connect Bay Area, the campaign to pass the measure, said the number of signatures collected “proves there is broad and deep support across the region for public transit.”
Campaign spokesperson Jeff Cretan said in a press release that the group used a mixture of grassroots volunteers and paid personnel who would station themselves outside places of business, transit stops, and major events across the region.
Connect Bay Area co-leader Lian Chang said over 1,000 people contributed to getting the necessary signatures for the ballot measure.
“We’re blown away,” said Chang in a press release. “This is the largest grassroots signature-gathering effort in the history of the Bay Area, and represents thousands of hours of time from people from all backgrounds and all corners of our five-county region to protect this thing — transit — that matters so much to us, and to millions of Bay Area voters, even if they don’t know it yet.”
U.S. Rep. Kevin Mullin, D-San Mateo, said the measure would help keep the Bay Area moving and affordable for residents.
“Public transit is a cornerstone of our economy and an essential public good that keeps our region affordable for residents,” said Mullin. “Connect Bay Area will protect the public transportation service we all rely on while ensuring strong accountability so every dollar delivers reliable, safe transit.”
The announcement comes after the Metropolitan Transportation Commission approved the first phase of the Financial Review Process, an audit by independent firm Nelson/Nygaard that found Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District, BART, Caltrain, and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency implemented over $1 billion in cost saving measures since 2019.
The report made recommendations for further savings and cost-cutting measures. Now with the measure set to be on the ballot, the second phase of the review will go further into depth into each agency receiving funding to ensure responsible spending and places where improvements can be made — as required by SB 63.
The Connect Bay Area campaign said it will take up to a month to verify the signatures in each respective county’s department of elections.
Vote democrat and taxes will continue.
There are over 90 tax initiatives on the ballot.
If we are not going to vote republican then let’s go all in for socialism. Healthcare for all. Open homes to homeless and defund police & fire.
A big NO! …everyone of those signatures needs to be checked 3x by an independent auditor not paid or affiliated with BART in any way.
Wonder how many registered voter names and addresses are valid ?
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Happened on a San Francisco street.
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How many signatures are valid on any proposition ? ? ? ?
An like state attorney general will investigate . . . . . crickets.
Good, then we can vote it down in flames for the world to see. NO NEW TAXES. Waste, fraud and abuse is the motto of BART. For heaven’s sake people, stop the madness. Your vote is the only power you still have (and that’s eroding very quickly)
Oh, joy, another tax. No doubt the “Tax me harder, daddy” crowd will vote for it.
A question voters need to ask themselves is why would you vote yes to a tax increase that rewards mismanagement? In 2023, BART spent $96 million on overtime. And who can forget the janitor that hid in a closet for hours not working that raked in $271,000 on a base salary of $57,945. NO more tax increases and bailout loans. Time to trim the budgeting fat.
VOTE NO!!!
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Unfortunately, this will pass, Contra Costa County voters will vote NO, but Alameda, Santa Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara County voters will vote YES, and we get stuck paying for it!!!
God people are stupid
I do not use public transit. Why should those that don’t pay?
No No and No !
Campaign spokesperson Jeff Cretan, former communications director for london breed, and staff for deviant weiner…..
I suspect we all know this will pass, every one of these tax votes somehow do.
Vote NO on everything. Certain groups are always trying to shoplift the taxpayers’ money to fund their special pet projects.
If you’re over 45, you already know all the tricks and vote NO on everything all the time. Leave the $$$ in there for good roads & infrastructure.
Critical questions: When do the current BART worker union contracts expire? What are the union’s plans upon expiration of these contracts? Once this tax measure passes, will the unions threaten strike to further enrich BART employees?