Whether you are a San Francisco resident, worker, or visitor, it is likely you have already experienced an improvement supported by half-cent sales tax transportation funding.
In November 2022, San Francisco voters approved Prop L, superseding the previous half-cent sales tax for transportation, Prop K, and approving a new 30-year Expenditure Plan identifying projects and programs to be funded by the sales tax. The Prop L Expenditure Plan prioritizes $2.6 billion (in 2020 dollars) and leverages over $20 billion in federal, state, and other local funds to help deliver safer, smoother streets, more reliable transit, continue paratransit services for seniors and persons with disabilities, reduce congestion, improve air quality, and more.
Read more about Proposition L approval.
Information on the Prop K (2003) and Prop B (1989) transportation sales tax measures can be found in the Reports and Documents tab under Additional Resources.
Expenditure Plan
The Prop L Expenditure Plan describes the types of projects that are eligible for funds. It includes a paratransit operations category and twenty-seven programs comprising projects ranging from street resurfacing to new and upgraded traffic signals to pedestrian safety improvements to transit vehicle replacements. The Transportation Authority works with city agencies in five-year cycles to program half-cent sales tax funds to specific projects eligible for funds from the programs.
The Expenditure Plan identifies eligible agencies and establishes limits on sales tax funding for each Prop L program. It also sets expectations for leveraging of sales tax funds with other federal, state, and local dollars to fully fund the Expenditure Plan programs and projects. However, it does not specify how much sales tax revenue any given project would receive by year. The Expenditure Plan requires that the Transportation Authority develop and adopt periodic updates to the Strategic Plan and 5-year project lists to guide the implementation of the program while supporting transparency and accountability.
More information can be found in the Reports and Documents tab under Expenditure Plan.
Prop L Expenditure Plan Summary (PDF)
Full Expenditure Plan (PDF)
Strategic Plan and 5-Year Project Lists
The Prop L Strategic Plan sets policy for administration of the half-cent sales tax program to ensure prudent stewardship of taxpayer funds. It also reconciles the timing of expected sales tax revenues with the schedule for when project sponsors need those revenues, and provides a solid financial basis for the issuance of debt needed to accelerate the delivery of projects and their associated benefits to the public.
Concurrent with updates of the Strategic Plan every five years, the Transportation Authority works closely with eligible agencies to develop lists of projects to be funded from each of the 28 programs. These 5-Year Prioritization Program documents have detailed project information, including scope, schedule, cost, funding information for Prop L funds and all other fund sources, and performance measures.
More information can be found in the Reports and Documents tab under Strategic Plan and 5-Year Prioritization Programs.
Making Sure the Sales Tax Is Equitable
Sales taxes have regressive aspects, meaning they pose a greater financial burden on people with lower incomes who spend a higher proportion of their income on day-to-day purchases than do higher-income people. The Transportation Sales Tax includes policies intended to mitigate this regressivity and advance equity, including:
- Facilitating transparency and accountability in governance and administration, including reviewing all funding items with our Community Advisory committee prior to consideration by the 11 members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, who sit as the Transportation Authority Board.
- Making a majority of the investments in transit and safety, which disproportionately benefit low-income San Franciscans.
- Engaging the public early, including low-income communities and communities of color, in shaping the new transportation Expenditure Plan.
See our Outreach Findings Report (PDF) for more details on how we engaged with the public about the development of the Prop L Expenditure Plan.
As part of our Racial Equity Action Plan, we are using the Racial Equity Toolkit (created by the Government Alliance on Race & Equity) to operationalize equity throughout all aspects of this process. Our Equity Assessment Report (PDF) is a product of this work, and includes research on transportation disparities and recommendations that helped address those disparities in the Expenditure Plan development process and in its programs and policies.
See a map of San Francisco's Equity Priority Communities here, which includes a diverse cross-section of populations and communities that could be considered disadvantaged or vulnerable now and in the future.
Transportation Expenditure Plan Advisory Committee
The Prop L Expenditure Plan development process received guidance from a Transportation Expenditure Plan Advisory Committee composed of neighborhood, business, advocacy, and community representatives. The committee met regularly over seven months between August 2021 and February 2022. All meetings were open to the public and attendees had the opportunity to provide feedback. Meeting materials can be found here.
