CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SACRAMENTO : Brown’s Concern on Gas Tax Split Eases

Emerging from a meeting with Gov. George Deukmejian and other legislative leaders, Assembly Speaker Willie Brown said his concern that a gasoline tax proposal would be unfair to Northern Californians has been resolved. The San Francisco Democrat said Northern Californian will still get 33% to 37% of the gas tax revenue, or just a few percentage points less than the 40% it has been getting. Brown said a Metropolitan Transportation Commission report that Northern California could get as little as 27% is inaccurate, because it does not take into account related factors--such as forgiveness of past overpayments to the north. The bipartisan proposal would raise the gas tax by 9 cents a gallon and would raise the state’s constitutional spending limit. If voters approve the proposal in June, it would raise an estimated $18.5 billion over 10 years.