Transportation CA Newsletter #2 – Transportation California, which SCCA has been a member of for decades, has released its second newsletter of transportation funding. The intent of these newsletters are to inform the industry about the emerging transportation funding crisis. This bulletin discusses the findings of TC’s polling and focus groups on voter sentiments.

Feds Encourage Cooperation to Reduce Congestion – The United States Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy invited states to collaborate with the Federal Highway Administration to move away from “stop-and-go” traffic toward “high-performance, high-efficiency solutions” in a letter to the nation’s governors. In it, Duffy stated that the country “maintains 4 million miles of public roads that deliver 92 percent of commute trips and carry 72 percent of all freight.” Some California policymakers have resisted highway capacity expansion because they claim it leads to “induced congestion,” the theory that adding capacity simply adds congestion.

DOF Shows Decreasing Labor Force, Unemployment – The California Department of Finance (DOF) reported that the California labor force decreased by 56,000 jobs. This reduction distorts the unemployment rate since there are less workers in the labor force. This traditionally makes conditions seem better than they are. California’s unemployment rate decreased 0.1% in February 2026. The DOF update is a must read if you’re interested in California’s overall economic condition.

EV Sales Plummet in 2026 Q1 – The total number of new vehicle sales in California so far this year were 61.1% gasoline-powered and 13.7% electric, a year-over-year decline of 7.2%. This is likely due to the federal administration eliminating EV incentive programs such as the EV tax credit and the HOV lane sticker. The number of EVs operating in California is important because the higher the overall fuel efficiency of all California vehicles directly results in lower transportation infrastructure revenue.

CSLB Releases Quarterly Newsletter – The Contractors State License Board’s (CSLB) primary responsibility is the protection of consumers. It is, after all, a board in the state’s Department of Consumer Affairs. Their mission is clearly demonstrated in their latest newsletter that focuses on consumer complaints and ways the board is protecting owners that lost their homes in last year’s fires.

SAF Jet Fuel Plan Draws Criticism – The Newsom Administration has proposed a novel tax credit to boost the operation of a struggling Northern California refinery. The refinery, a Phillips 66 facility located in the community of Rodeo, is being converted to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), a “green jet fuel.” The novel incentive would provide credit to companies that normally sell diesel fuel but also produce SAF. That credit, narrowly designed to benefit the Northern California refinery, would shift hundreds of millions of dollars away from transportation infrastructure where it is currently dedicated. Assemblymember Lori Wilson (D-Suisun City) has stated her deep concerns with the proposal. The Legislative Analyst Office has also recommended the legislature not pursue it. SCCA is opposed to the plan.

Newsom Announces $18 Million for Apprenticeship Training – When a construction contractor works on a public works construction project, it generally needs to have one apprentice per five journeypersons working on the job. Union contractors request apprenticeships from their appropriate union halls and are dispatched to them. Part of the health-and-welfare payment made by union contractors includes a small hourly amount to apprenticeship training. But what do non-union contractors do and what do they pay? Simply, they must request an apprentice from the appropriate union as well.  If an apprentice is dispatched, the contractor, in addition to paying the apprentice’s wages, must make a payment to the California Department of Industrial Relations to support apprenticeship training. Every year, the DIR’s Division of Apprenticeship Standards (DAS) issues those funds back to the apprenticeship training schools through competitive grants. DAS distributed $18 million in grants, according to a Newsom press release from last month.

Newsom Declares Apprenticeship Week – Staying with the apprenticeship theme, Governor Newsom declared the week of April 26 as “National Apprenticeship Week.” California maintains a robust apprenticeship program. The Newsom declaration found that 245,342 people have completed an apprenticeship program since 2019. It also thanked employers for making “California’s apprenticeship system prosperous and full of opportunity for all.”

BLS on Union Membership – The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) tracks a lot of labor data and has done so for a very long time. The latest national BLS data shows union membership five times higher in the public sector at 32.9% compared to the private sector at 5.9%. In an indication of public sector worker growth, the public sector union membership increased by 0.7% over the year.

California Oddity in Housing – California is adding more housing than people, which would typically suggest a loosening of the market, according to the PPIC. That is the conventional thinking; however, the market is not loosening. Although the state added 677,000 housing units over the past six years while gaining only 39,000 residents, the vacancy rate actually tightened from 1.2% to 0.8% over the same period. The PPIC blog post suggests this is due to people leaving their homes and moving into new ones, creating smaller households while essentially maintaining the same number of residents in the state.