On Wednesday, August 23, the Caltrain board voted on a compromise agreement on how Caltrain would be funded in the context of a regional transit funding measure.
The Caltrain board agreed to allocate funds among the Caltrain member agencies at $32.5 million for Santa Clara County, $32.5 million for San Mateo County, and $10 million for the City and County of San Francisco.
The expenditure plan from bill authors Wiener and Arreguin calls for $75 million to Caltrain out of a regional funding measure that would raise approximately $700 million in 2031 dollars (see expenditure plan transit agency allocations below).
Reaching agreement was a linchpin for San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties, which have decisions scheduled over the next two weeks.
| July 30 | SMCTA board advisory vote |
| July 30 | C/CAG board advisory vote |
| August 1 | VTA board workshop |
| August 6 | SamTrans board votes on whether to opt in |
| August 7 | VTA board votes on whether to opt in |
The Caltrain partners had come to the negotiation with differing perspectives, and came to the compromise with negotiations with an ad hoc subcommittee with Board Chair Heminger from San Francisco, Jeff Gee from San Mateo (also on SamTrans board) and Margaret Abe Koga for Santa Clara County (also on VTA board). The negotiators agreed for the funding plan to apply only to the SB63 funds, and to defer decisions about other aspects of Caltrain’s management and governance to future negotiations.
The expenditure plan for SB63 calls for the division of funding for Caltrain to be guided by agreement among the three partners in San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties.
