Organizers with the Connect Bay Area Act, a regional sales tax measure for public transit, collected 305,895 signatures across five Bay Area counties, well above the 186,000 required threshold to place it on this year’s ballot.
Voters in the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, San Francisco, and Santa Clara will vote this November on the sales tax measure Senate Bill 63 — more commonly known as the Connect Bay Area Act — that would create a new source of funding for several public transit agencies facing budget deficits.
The state Legislature passed SB 63 in 2025 after being introduced by state Sens. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, and Jesse Arreguin, D-Berkeley. It created a new entity, the Public Transit Revenue District, that encompasses the five counties.
The law also authorized placing a regional sales tax measure on the November ballot that, if approved by voters, would start a 14-year sales tax of half a cent in each county except San Francisco, where it would be one cent — projected to generate $1 billion annually for public transit agencies.
In California, a voter-approved regional measure for a new sales tax would normally require a two-thirds majority approval if the Legislature directly places it on a ballot. Transit advocates, however, chose to collect signatures to make the sales tax a citizen-initiated ballot measure that would lower the threshold to a simple majority of votes cast.
Organizers with Connect Bay Area, the campaign to pass the measure, said the number of signatures collected “proves there is broad and deep support across the region for public transit.”
Campaign spokesperson Jeff Cretan said in a news release that the group used a mixture of grassroots volunteers and paid personnel who would station themselves outside places of business, transit stops, and major events across the region.
A team effort
Connect Bay Area co-leader Lian Chang said over 1,000 people contributed to getting the necessary signatures for the ballot measure.
“We’re blown away,” said Chang in a news release. “This is the largest grassroots signature-gathering effort in the history of the Bay Area, and represents thousands of hours of time from people from all backgrounds and all corners of our five-county region to protect this thing — transit — that matters so much to us, and to millions of Bay Area voters, even if they don’t know it yet.”
U.S. Rep. Kevin Mullin, D-San Mateo, said the measure would help keep the Bay Area moving and affordable for residents.
“Public transit is a cornerstone of our economy and an essential public good that keeps our region affordable for residents,” said Mullin. “Connect Bay Area will protect the public transportation service we all rely on while ensuring strong accountability so every dollar delivers reliable, safe transit.”
“This is the largest grassroots signature-gathering effort in the history of the Bay Area … to protect this thing — transit — that matters so much to us, and to millions of Bay Area voters, even if they don’t know it yet.”
Lian Chang, Connect Bay Area
The announcement comes after the Metropolitan Transportation Commission approved the first phase of the Financial Review Process, an audit by independent firm Nelson/Nygaard that found Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District, BART, Caltrain, and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency implemented over $1 billion in cost saving measures since 2019.
The report made recommendations for further savings and cost-cutting measures. Now with the measure set to be on the ballot, the second phase of the review will go further into depth into each agency receiving funding to ensure responsible spending and places where improvements can be made — as required by SB 63.
The Connect Bay Area campaign said it will take up to a month to verify the signatures in each respective county’s department of elections.