The controversial replacement for Measure C may not be dead yet as two Valley legislators have turned to the state to get the Better Roads Safe Streets on the November ballot.

A last-minute rewrite of Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria’s distressed hospital bill would compel Fresno County Clerk/Registrar of Voters James Kus to put the half-cent transportation tax Better Roads Safe Streets on the ballot regardless of Fresno County supervisor’s call to delay that decision until Aug. 11.

The gutted-and-amended Assembly Bill 1923 from Soria and Sen. Anna Caballero ,D-Merced, targets Fresno County specifically, declaring that any initiative petition certified by July 8 will be submitted to voters on the Nov. 3 general election.

As recently as Friday, Soria’s bill had still been a hospital bill. The Senate Appropriations committee that day released their analysis on the hospital bill. An urgency statute allows it to take effect immediately.

“We cannot afford to do nothing. Doing so will result in the loss of hundreds of good-paying jobs throughout the Valley, along with critically needed road improvements throughout Fresno County,” Soria said in a statement. “Senator Caballero and I remain committed to the greater Fresno community and will do everything in our power to ensure voters in Fresno County have the opportunity to have their voices heard on November 3, 2026.”

Bill Takes Away Local Control: Magsig, Bredefeld

This comes as supervisors on July 28 ordered a study on how the transportation tax, which Fresno County Supervisor Nathan Magsig called “overly prescriptive,” would affect county finances, jobs, and legal exposure. The delay would have put the voter initiative past the Aug. 7 state deadline to be eligible for the November ballot.

Approval after Aug. 7 means the measure would not appear on the ballot until March 2028 at the earliest.

Magsig said he prefers local control on election matters.

“Where local control is reduced, that is not to the benefit of the public,” Magsig said.

Ashley Swearengin, executive director of the Central Valley Community Foundation, a financial sponsor of Better Roads Safe Streets, said she was surprised and excited about the possibility of the tax making it onto the November ballot.

She said she didn’t know it was an option until Sunday evening.

“To see the assemblymember be willing to step forward and provide the leadership to make sure, assuming this goes through … to make sure Fresno County voters have a chance to decide their own future here, I think it’s pretty incredible,” Swearengin said.

Signature Gathering Errors Delayed Decision: Bredefeld

Swearengin said supervisors played political games in calling for the study and subverted the will of voters.

“It is very clear that they’re using a procedure and the ability to wrangle their administration to deny people the chance to vote on this,” Swearengin said.

Board Chair Garry Bredefeld, however, said it was too many errors during the signature-gathering process that put the petition in jeopardy of not making the ballot. Kus’ office in May reported a high number of duplicate signatures that forced a longer full review, further delaying supervisor approval.

Bredefeld said the county has a responsibility to understand how the measure would affect the county if approved.

“Local elections become meaningless when corrupt state politicians can simply rewrite the rules after their side loses,” Bredefeld said. “Not a surprise coming from the corrupt Legislature in Sacramento. We will fight this measure and defeat it in spite of their corruption because it will not fix our residents’ streets but destroy them with 120 miles of bike lanes and billions more of taxpayer money misused just like Sacramento’s High Speed Rail, the train to nowhere.”

Will Newsom Assert State Control Over Local Matters?

Newsom does have connections to the Central Valley Community Foundation through a nonprofit, California Partners Project, connected to his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom.

CVSF has been a fiscal sponsor for the California Partners Project since 2020, according to the Partners Project website. This year alone, Newsom behested $230,000 to the community foundation from other organizations to support work by the California Partners Project, according to the state database on behested payments.

Former Fresno County Supervisor Henry Perea said the relationship between the Central Valley Community Foundation and Gov. Gavin Newsom could play a role in whether Soria’s bill gets final approval.

Newsom has strongly opposed President Donald Trump’s attempts to assert federal control in local elections such as those in Los Angeles. So, Perea said, so it will be an “interesting dynamic” to see how the governor will react if the bill makes it to his desk.

“I think it puts him in a tough spot in the positions he’s taken at the federal level to now say he’s OK to participate in election interference at a local level,” Perea said.

Caballero called the decision by supervisors to delay the vote “short-sighted.”

“Local control is about more than the authority of elected officials — it also means respecting the will of the people,” Caballero said. “In this case, more than 32,000 Fresno County residents signed petitions to qualify a successor to Measure C for the ballot. Assemblywoman Soria and I are advancing this bill to ensure the community has the final say.”