On Board With… Assemblymember Steve Bennett
Assemblymember Steve Bennett was elected to the California State Assembly in November 2020, representing the 38th district, which includes the western part of Ventura County. He serves as Chair of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee 3 on Climate Crisis, Resources, Energy, and Transportation. The subcommittee oversees among other things, the state budget for the California State Transportation Agency, the California Air Resources Board, and the California Energy Commission.
From 2000 to 2020, Mr. Bennett served as a Ventura County Supervisor. Prior to that, he was elected to the Ventura City Council in 1993 and served until 1997. Born and raised in the Midwest, Mr. Bennett served his community as a high school Economics and American History teacher for over 20 years.
Transit California: 
You are Chair of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee 3 on Climate Crisis, Resources, Energy, and Transportation. What are your state budget priorities for public transit?
Asm. Bennett:
California needs a better trajectory regarding transit, and it will be difficult to achieve. Covid drove a dramatic decline in transit ridership and revealed how vulnerable our transit systems are. While we hope it is the case, it is too easy to think that ridership will return to past levels simply with the passage of time. How much will remote work stick? How has the public perception of transit changed?
In the short run, we need to shore up transit systems so that infrastructure investments that have been made stay functional. In the long run, we need to find creative ways to fund transit operations that meet two needs. One, the needs of the vulnerable populations that rely on transit for their everyday existence. Low-income workers and seniors with no other transportation options are among the populations that need and deserve a community-supported transit system.
Two, California’s transit system of the future needs to become a routine part of most people’s lives. Transit binds communities together, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, ends mind-numbing commutes in single-occupancy passenger cars, and much more. The transit system of the future must be able to adapt appropriately to changing societal needs for transit, because the rate of technological, economic, workforce, and lifestyle changes will continue to accelerate.
My funding priority for transit is to make investments that begin to bend the trajectory of transit in California, so it is more sustainable, flexible, and better integrated into the lives of Californians.
Transit California:
How do you see transit as part of the solution to the climate crisis for California?
Asm. Bennett:
Fewer cars on the road means fewer cars produced, less emissions, and denser cities. All of those things create significant greenhouse gas reductions.
Transit California:
How do you think the State can best provide the funding needed to advance climate-friendly transportation developments?
Asm. Bennett:
We need to develop long-term, sustainable, steady funding streams. That is not easy to do since California has such widely varying revenue collections. We need to recognize that transit is a public good. Japan gives the property around each bullet train station to the operator of that train. Operators then build retail that benefits from that prime location. This revenue complements the farebox return and makes their operators profitable. That one-time allocation of property is paying long-term benefits. That is the kind of creative thinking we need in California.
Transit’s societal value is such that it should be supported by the public overall. Until we find better solutions for ongoing operational funding, we need steady government funding.
Transit California:
One of your first priorities is improving storage capacity for renewable energy with the goal of 100 percent renewable energy. As California transit fleets transition to zero-emission technologies, can they count on reliable sources of clean electricity?
Asm. Bennett:
That is one of the major questions of our time. I am concerned that we are underestimating the amount of planning, coordination, and steadiness of purpose it is going to take to successfully make this transition. We need leaders who are thinking well beyond their own expected careers in public service. We also need to consider how difficult it is for multiple agencies to successfully coordinate this transition to clean electricity alone. Add to that all the other changes needed to move to a green economy, and we have real challenges ahead.
Matching supply and demand through periods of dramatic change often causes significant short-term dislocations in a market economy. But we should prioritize clean energy supplies for transit because of the significant public benefits we all will receive from transit.
Transit California:
In the past, you have declared your interest in hydrogen as a solution to divert consumers away from using fossil-fuel-powered vehicles. As many may know, fuel cell vehicles tend to be more expensive than battery electric vehicles. Could you speak a bit about hydrogen accessibility in California, and why you feel it makes a great option for consumers interested in zero-emission vehicles?
Asm. Bennett:
I am not a proponent of hydrogen over battery technology or vice versa. I believe that the future is so uncertain that we will all be best served by keeping both technologies competing with each other in as many markets as is reasonably feasible. Hydrogen has some advantages over battery technology and vice versa. Significant investment is being made worldwide in hydrogen technology. It seems reasonable that it will become more cost-effective and accessible in the near future.
It is hard to predict where prices will be in 10 to 20 years on fuel cell vehicles versus electric vehicles in the full range of transportation options, heavy duty to light duty. What the impact will be of mass production, technological improvements, access to rare earth minerals, and a host of other factors is difficult to predict. Let’s keep both options on the table in this early stage of adjustment from a fossil fuel economy.
Transit California:
Your district, along with many coastal districts in California, experienced severe flooding and erosion as a result of the recent storms. Several roadways were deemed impassable due to mud and debris and have closed indefinitely as a result. What can California legislators do to support coastal transit agencies so they might be able to brace themselves for similar extreme weather patterns in the future?
Asm. Bennett:
Legislators can support agencies’ efforts to plan options ahead of time. Look, there is no easy solution to this or any of our transit challenges. But we owe it to our citizens to plan, to prepare, and to think creatively about solutions. While we still have time, before sea level rise causes more serious problems, we should have statewide plans to deal with our most threatened coastal infrastructure.
Transit California:
Serving as a Ventura County Supervisor from 2000 to 2020, you championed efforts on behalf of farmworkers, those experiencing homelessness, foster youth, and seniors. How does transit play a role in improving the lives of these populations?
Asm. Bennett:
In Ventura County we invested in vans that took farmworkers from their homes into the fields to work. This was a flexible and cost-effective way to help people who were willing to work long hard hours under the sun. Appropriate transit is really valuable to all the populations listed above. It allows them to help themselves with their own efforts and initiative.
Transit California:
As a member of the Ventura City Council from 1993 to 1997, you co-authored the Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources (SOAR) initiatives that have made the county a national leader in land-use planning. How is transit linked with managing urban sprawl?
Asm. Bennett:
Transit works best with higher density. From the beginning of the SOAR campaigns, we advocated for higher density in our existing urban areas rather than single-family urban sprawl, often filled with oversized homes on large lots that developers most profited from.
It has taken some time, but we have shifted the development patterns in Ventura County, and higher density is taking hold in existing urban areas. The question for us is, what are the right investments that decrease car dependence in these new denser communities? Every community is unique.
Transit California:
You taught High School Economics and American History for over 20 years while working in the community to address urban sprawl, money corrupting politics, and problems affecting disadvantaged communities. How has your understanding of American History informed your efforts?
Asm. Bennett:
Dominant cycles in American History demonstrate periods where wealthy interests consolidate power and take advantage of the working class. Those periods get interrupted from time to time with reform efforts that generally elevate the needs of the public at large, and particularly the most disadvantaged, over the needs of the powerful.
Some reform movements succeed, and others do not, as there are so many variables that need to come together. Using the power of grassroots politics is the basic way to counter oligarchical power. That is why it is so important to decrease the influence of money in politics and generally keep the institutions of democracy strong and independent.