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Among the bill’s critics is Concord Assemblymember Tim Grayson, who wrote in an op-ed earlier this month that toll hikes stick it to bridge users while non-bridge users reap the benefits.

“Politically this makes sense: the fewer people made to pay and the more people who benefit, the more likely it is that the measure will pass,” writes Grayson. “[But] is it fair to place the burden so disproportionately on one segment of our region?”

State lawmakers approved a bill that will ask voters to OK a $3 toll hike on all Bay Area bridges except on the Golden Gate Bridge.

Last week the state Legislature passed SB 595, which will now ask voters in all nine Bay Area counties to decide on whether to phase in the rate increase. For some local commuters, that could add up to as much as $9 to cross the Bay, money which will then go toward beefing up the region's existing infrastructure and transit agencies.

Voters will now get the chance in either November or June of next year to pass the bill with a simple majority.

The bill has already faced pushback from local commuter advocates and Bay Area lawmakers, with California State Assembly members Catharine Baker (R-San Ramon), Tim Grayson (D-Concord) and Jim Frazier (D-Brentwood) voting no on the measure.

If you live in the Bay Area, you’ll be hearing a lot about Senate Bill 595 over the next year or so. If you’re a regular user of any of the region’s seven state-owned toll bridges — that’s all of them, except the Golden Gate Bridge — you’ll want to pay close attention.

Several Contra Costa County legislators — Assemblymember Tim Grayson and Congressman Mark DeSaulnier among them — opposed SB 595, saying that it’s 1) a regressive tax and 2) a ripoff for the residents of the East Bay.

As Gov. Jerry Brown pushes an international climate-change agenda, he faces a crucial test at home: ensuring that California’s signature program to tackle global warming survives into the next decade. Brown is fighting for a deal this month to extend the state’s cap-and trade program, which forces power plants, factories and refineries to pay to pollute and is set to expire in 2020. It has not come easily.

Our recent report about BART getting behind a proposed $1 to $3 hike in Bay Area bridge tolls to help pay for hundreds of new rail cars had Steve Jasik of Menlo Park reaching for his calculator — and making a startling discovery.

Three East Bay representatives deserve great credit for trying to restore some fiscal sanity and honesty to BART.

The Bay Area’s critical transit district is being run under a cloud of deceit. District officials last year convinced voters to pass a $3.5 billion bond measure for capital projects. They promised that the district would continue to kick in its fair share, but less than three months after the election they are moving to renege on that.