The Assembly has passed a gas tax increase without a vote to spare after the Senate earlier approved.The votes were for a $5 Billion-a-year transportation infrastructure bill. All Kern County’s lawmakers voted no Tuesday night, including Senator Andy Vidak of Hanford who says Gov. Brown was unwilling to find a way to fix road without raising taxes. Assemblyman Vince Fong is disappointed his plan which he says would fix roads with existing fuel taxes was not given a fair look. Democrat Assemblyman Rudy Salas of Bakersfield went against his party to vote no. Gas increase 12 cents a gallon, diesel 20 cents on November 1st and vehicle registration fees go up in January.

Sean Michael Lisle