Last Tuesday, the Third District Court of Appeals in Sacramento ruled that the Legislature's recent raids on public transportation funds are illegal. This important decision means that voter-mandated transit funding can no longer be diverted to balance the budget, offering a glimmer of hope to essential programs that have been trimmed to the bone.

For the past two years, in addition to recently cutting all state support for local public transportation agencies, the Governor and Legislature have raided over $5 billion from a public transportation account known as the Spillover Account, which is funded through the gas tax. The account became a prime target as gas prices rose, even through demand for transit was also skyrocketing.

According to Josh Shaw, Executive Director of the California Transit Association and lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, "this (decision) strikes at the heart of the gimmicks that have been employed year after year in putting together the state budget."

While the Court did not order repayment of funds re-routed in past budget deals, legislators this year will not be allowed to take approximately $1 billion that they had planned to shift from public transportation to the General Fund.

NOT SO FAST: LAWMAKERS DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY FOR HIGH SPEED RAIL PLANNING IN BAY AREA, RAIL AUTHORITY PUSHES BACK

California lawmakers recently took an important step to protect the environment and ensure accountability in public spending when they included a provision into the state budget that would require the High Speed Rail Authority to conduct a complete environmental review of potential routes for the Bay Area segment of the project in order to receive state funding. Unfortunately the Authority is opposing this common sense provision and asking that it be removed from the budget.

The passage of Proposition 1A last November authorized construction of the train and put up $10 billion in public dollars. Since that time, the Authority has maintained that they won't review "alignment alternatives" for the Bay Area, even as they do this level of review for the other segments throughout the state.

The alignment provision was put into the budget after thirty residents from the Bay Area, including several locally elected officials, traveled to Sacramento to testify at the Senate Budget Subcommittee hearing dealing with the Authority's budget. In the hearing, they described their frustration at being told that the Authority would not conduct a complete review, despite the devastating impacts that would result from the alignment the Authority prefers and the existence of less destructive alternatives. Many relayed accounts of being shut out of the public process and being told that their concerns did not matter.

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires that public agencies analyze a reasonable range of project alternatives to help avoid or mitigate significant environmental impacts. If the Authority continues to resist analyzing the Bay Area alignment alternatives in its CEQA review of the project, a lawsuit will inevitably force them back to the drawing board, wasting time and taxpayer money.

PCL strongly supports the provision in the budget requiring the Authority to do a complete environmental review. It's a shame that the Authority has insisted on shortcutting the public process. We're grateful that the Legislature stepped in to provide some much needed oversight.

REMEMBER US? WE LIVE HERE: PRESS CONFERENCE FOR EQUITABLE DELTA POLICY

On Tuesday, PCL joined 300 protestors on the steps of California's state capitol to support local Delta officials and residents. Our concerns? That the lack of democratic process in current statewide Delta negotiations has left out many Californians, especially communities in the Delta, and that poorly crafted Delta policies could impede the state's ability to solve other pressing problems. "You can't fix the Delta without the people of the Delta as your partners," noted Senator Lois Wolk. "Right now we are making the most regrettable cuts to basic health programs. How many in-home services and classrooms will this expensive project cost?" asked PCL's water program manager Charlotte Hodde. Our request? That the Legislature shed light on their negotiations and ensure that the proposal is one for the public good instead of a few Californians.

The Legislature has been quietly crafting a new "Delta package" for several weeks. Though still incomplete, the details that have emerged give the impression that this might be a Big Dig that benefits only a few wealthy individuals.

There are solutions to the crisis in the Delta. Shouldering Californians with bad policy without their input isn't one of them.