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Former Rep. Bill Thomas endorses Measure J 

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Bill Thomas

–Bill Thomas, a long-time Republican congressman who chaired the powerful Ways and Means Committee, has endorsed Measure J, which proposes a half-cent sales tax to improve local roads and traffic.

“For the foreseeable future, state highway funding will be very limited,” Thomas said. “A county that is a self-help county will be at the front of the line when asking for help.”

More than 80 percent of the state lives in counties that are “self-help”–meaning they have passed local transportation taxes, like Measure J, that raise funds and make the communities eligible for state and federal matching grants for regional projects.

Levied for nine years, the Measure J taxes would provide an estimated $25 million annually. The locally controlled funds would be used exclusively to improve roads and transportation in San Luis Obispo County. Every city council in the county, along with the county board of supervisors, has passed a resolution in support of initiative. The measure, recently endorsed by the Tribune and the AAA motor club, includes a taxpayer’s oversight committee that will ensure the funds remain local and are spent in a manner approved by voters.

Thomas, who represented portions of San Luis Obispo County in Congress, served in the House of Representatives from 1979 to 2007. Voted the #2 “brainiest” representative in a Washingtonian poll, he rose to a crucial leadership position in 2001 when he became chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, which is the chief tax-writing committee in the House.

Always skeptical of taxes, Thomas guided the passage of six tax cuts during his five years as Ways and Means chairman.

Visit yesonj-slo.org for more information about the ballot measure.

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