{"id":7876,"date":"2026-08-27T20:09:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T20:09:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7876"},"modified":"2026-08-27T20:09:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T20:09:19","slug":"judge-rejects-claims-that-bay-area-transit-tax-measure-is-misleading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7876","title":{"rendered":"Judge rejects claims that Bay Area transit tax measure is ‘misleading’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Santa Clara County Superior Court judge dealt a legal blow on Thursday to a group of Bay Area voters who filed a lawsuit last week hoping to rid a November regional sales tax measure they\u2019re opposing to fund public transit of what they considered \u201cmisleading\u201d and \u201cbiased\u201d ballot language.<\/p>\n

Read more Why two teenagers at Single-A San Jose could be the future of the SF Giants<\/a><\/p>\n

In his ruling, Superior Court Judge Frederick S. Chung denied all 14 requests to strike or change certain words in the measure\u2019s text, calling some arguments \u201cunpersuasive\u201d and stating that they didn\u2019t meet the required \u201cburden of proof.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI really think that you\u2019re focused so much on whether this ballot measure is effective and the merits of it, rather than on whether the language is misleading,\u201d Chung told attorney Jason Bezis, who is representing the ten voters, at a hearing this week.<\/p>\n

The sales tax measure was placed on the ballot earlier this year to help support\u00a0the region\u2019s struggling public transit agencies that have yet to see ridership levels return to pre-pandemic levels.<\/p>\n

If it passes, the measure is expected to generate about $980 million annually for bus, train, ferry and metro lines in Santa Clara, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa and San Francisco counties by raising the sales tax by 0.5% in every county except San Francisco, where the increase would be 1%. The tax would go into effect in 2027 and last for 14 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re disappointed with the outcome but we will be continuing to fight this tax with all the abilities that we have,\u201d Marc Joffe, one of the plaintiffs and the treasurer of Committee for Affordable Bay Area Transit, said. \u201cWe continue to think that it\u2019s a very bad choice for the Bay Area, given the Bay Area\u2019s incredible level of unaffordability that this will exacerbate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the arguments made in the lawsuit was that it was misleading to say it would \u201cprevent major service cuts\u201d and \u201cpreserve BART.\u201d The group of voters opposing the measure argued that \u201cwhat are \u2018major service cuts\u2019 to one person might not be \u2018major service cuts\u2019 to another person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more San Jose State\u2019s \u2018spread-and-shred\u2019 offense still has room to grow<\/a><\/p>\n

Chung, though, said the group of critics didn\u2019t show \u201cclear and convincing evidence\u201d that the word \u201cpreserving\u201d isn\u2019t \u201cfalse, misleading, partial or argumentative.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt accurately describes the purpose of the ballot measure, and it is not factually incorrect,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

BART has warned that without the tax it may need to close between 10 and 15 stations and two lines, while Caltrain might have to cut weekend service and end weekday service after 9 p.m.<\/p>\n

Another point of contention in the ballot measure language was mention that it would provide funding for \u201crepairing targeted roads\/potholes.\u201d The voters argued that there \u201cis no guarantee that any funding actually would be spent on \u2018roadway re-pavement projects,\u201d and that \u201croadway re-pavement\u201d is not the same thing as \u201crepairing targeted roads\/potholes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPetitioners argue that \u2018potholes\u2019 is a politically charged word, designed to inflame the electorate, and that \u2018repairing\u2019 should be replaced with \u2018repaving,’\u201d Chung wrote in his decision. \u201cThe court is not convinced. Potholes are a species of the problems addressed by repaving; and road repaving is a species of the broader concept of \u2018repair.’\u201d<\/p>\n

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The ballot language challenged in the lawsuit was approved last month by the Public Transit Revenue Measure District \u2014 a governing body of Metropolitan Transportation Commission members created to oversee the measure. MTC could not immediately be reached for comment on the ruling.<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018NYPD Blue\u2019 star Rick Schroder slammed for political Dolly Parton tribute<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The measure would generate $980 million annually for bus, train, ferry and metro lines in five Bay Area counties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nJudge rejects claims that Bay Area transit tax measure is ‘misleading’ - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7876\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Judge rejects claims that Bay Area transit tax measure is ‘misleading’ - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The measure would generate $980 million annually for bus, train, ferry and metro lines in five Bay Area counties.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7876\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-27T20:09:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7876#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7876\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"headline\":\"Judge rejects claims that Bay Area transit tax measure is ‘misleading’\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-27T20:09:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7876\"},\"wordCount\":622,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7876#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/8a62a87ac4ed1d2afd2741aa8590c7ed-scaled.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7876#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7876\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7876\",\"name\":\"Judge rejects claims that Bay Area transit tax measure is ‘misleading’ - 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