Measure A will be an extension of the existing 1/2 cent sales tax for transportation in Santa Barbara County.  The existing 1/2 cent transportation sales tax, known as Measure D, was approved by voters in 1989 for a twenty-year period.  Since the sales tax has been collected starting in 1990, Measure D has generated over $300 million for local and regional projects and is anticipated to generate up to $500 million before it sunsets in 2010.  The Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG), in its role as the Local Transportation Authority, administers all aspects of the Measure D Program.  The funds have enabled SBCAG and the local agencies in Santa Barbara County to delivery a variety of projects including:

- Regional Highway Projects
- Local street improvements and repairs
- Bicycle and pedestrian facilities
- Expanded and enhanced transit service

Measure D funds are used exclusively on transportation projects and programs specifically authorized in the voter approved Measure D Expenditure Plan.  The Expenditure Plan was approved by SBCAG, the County of Santa Barbara and each of the cities prior to the 1989 election.  The Expenditure Plan specified the allocation of revenues collected under Measure D as follows:

Local Program - 70%
Regional Program - 29.5%
Paratransit - 0.5%

The 70% of Measure D revenues that are distributed to the local agencies are allocated on a population formula that is adjusted annually.  The City Councils and Board of Supervisors choose how to spend their share of funds after seeking public input on projects.  The local agencies have used Measure D funds for a variety of transportation projects including pedestrian and bicycle facilities (6%), support for local transit (5%), local road improvements (8%), and local street maintenance programs (81%).

The Measure D Regional Program is comprised of eighteen projects including interchange improvements, rural highway operational improvements, local intersection improvements, highway widening, auxiliary lanes, and interregional transit service.

Bond financing was employed in 1993 to allow SBCAG to complete twelve of the fifteen original expenditure plan projects by 2000.  Cost savings on one rural highway project allowed SBCAG to begin development of a second group of improvements on the highway.  In October 2003, the Expenditure Plan was amended to add three projects.  Seventeen of the nineteen projects currently in the program have been delivered and Phase 1 of the last remaining project, widening of Highway 101 south of Santa Barbara will begin construction this summer.

SBCAG has leveraged an additional $60 million in funding from State, federal and local sources to stretch Measure D funds even further.  Please click here for a complete list of the Measure D Regional Projects (pdf).

Measure D devotes 0.5% of the total funding to improving public transportation for seniors and the disabled throughout the county.  Through July 2007, $1.2 million had been distributed to provide subsidies to specialized transit operators, meet ADA service requirements for the county's largest fixed route provider, and provide fare reductions for service users.

The success of Measure D is due in part to the dynamic partnership and coordination between SBCAG, Caltrans District 5, private consultants, and local agencies.  Effective communication and coordination among all agencies has facilitated the development and completion of the voter approved regional projects.  Careful financial management, including the use of bond financing and leveraging, has resulted in the early delivery of projects and saved tens of millions of dollars in construction costs.  SBCAG has used these savings to deliver a greater number of projects than promised to voters in 1989.