Measure R

The tax is expected to raise $40 billion over thirty years. After subtracting 1.5% for administrative costs, the remaining money must be spent as follows:

• 35% for transit capital projects, e.g. new rail and bus rapid transit lines
• 3% for transit capital on the Metrolink commuter rail system
• 2% for miscellaneous transit capital, e.g. rail rolling stock, maintenance facilities
• 20% for highway capital projects
• 5% for operations on new rail lines
• 20% for bus operation improvements
• 15% for local return, i.e.  transportation money that individual cities decide how to spend

Among prominent politicians, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, and Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles) were the most vocal proponents. The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce supported it.

Having donated $900,000, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) was the "largest single donor to the effort to raise the sales tax in the county and build more mass transit". According to LACMA surveys, the top three reasons people do not visit the museum pertain to transportation: prospective visitors "live too far, there's too much traffic, and the museum is inconvenient to freeways and mass transit".[9]

Los Angeles County Supervisors Michael D. Antonovich, Don Knabe, and Gloria Molina were opposed to the measure, claiming that the "spending plan favors the Westside" and denies other parts of the county such as San Fernando Valley their "fair share of sales tax revenues".[10] MTA board member John Fasana opposed Measure R because he believed it does not "provide enough assurances" that funds will be spent as planned.[2]

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors decided to ask voters on the November 2012 ballot whether or not to extend the half-cent sales tax increase for an additional 30 years until 2069. The board's 10–3 vote came just one day before the opening of the expanded Metro Orange Line - the first project funded by Measure R.[11] Proponents such as Mayor Villaraigosa maintain that it would save money by allowing Metro to take advantage of record low interest rates and construction costs, create thousands of jobs, and speed up the completion of certain projects.[10] In order to fund more transportation projects at the present time, the measuring would permit "bonding against future revenues"—i.e., to "take out loans from the investment market that will not be paid back until beginning in 2039". The extension would not result in new transportation projects; it would merely allow projects on the current list to be completed more quickly, in 10 years instead of 30.[12] The proposal, Measure J, went before the voters on November 6, 2012. It failed to pass, receiving 66.1% of the vote where 66.7% was required.[13][14]

Measure M

November 8, 2016 (2016-11-08)
Los Angeles County Traffic Improvement Plan
Results
Choice Votes  % Yes 2,259,654 71.15% No 916,375 28.85%
Los Angeles County Official Results[15]

On the November 2016 ballot, LACMTA proposed a $120 billion plan to expand upon Measure R, adding new transit projects and expediting others previously approved under Measure R. The plan, known as Measure M, would make measure R permanent and add an additional half-cent sales tax.[16] Measure M passed with 70.15% of the vote, clearing the two-thirds majority required.[17]

On the 23rd of July, 2019, the Eno Center of Transportation released a report titled "Measure M: Lessons from a Successful Transportation Ballot Campaign", authored by Michael Manville of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. This report uses Measure M as a successful example of ballot measures as a means to fund transportation. The horizon year for the tax scheme is 2057.

Measure M programmed funding for the following projects:[18]

In March 2020, the City of Inglewood reallocated $233 million from Measure M highway improvement funds to help finance the Inglewood Transit Connector people mover.[19]