San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously backs placing Caltrain sales tax on November ballot

San Francisco Board of Supervisors members voted unanimously on Aug. 7 to place a one‑eighth of 1% retail transaction-and-use tax for Caltrain on the Nov. 3, 2020 ballot and to advance related governance actions adopted by the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board.

The vote came after the board convened as a Committee of the Whole to hear a brief staff presentation and public testimony on the proposal. The body approved an amended resolution that rescinds and replaces a prior San Francisco resolution and affirms the JPB governance actions. "We will be making history if we can get this two‑thirds measure passed as this will be the first ever dedicated funding source for Caltrain," Supervisor Shamann Walton said during the meeting.

The measure that the JPB approved and that San Francisco advanced would impose a one‑eighth of 1% sales tax across the three Caltrain counties for 30 years and is estimated in the presentations to generate about $100 million a year for operating and capital needs, including state of good…