Good blog from Steve Hymon today on the signing yesterday of a bill allowing LA Metro to move forward on an "augment and extend" sales tax measure that could raise $120 billion for transportation if it gets put on the ballot in 2016. Steve makes the following key points: 1) Metro won't decide until spring or summer of next year whether to put a measure on the ballot but is working on an update to the long range transportation plan and a framework for the possible ballot measure, and 2) Metro has been working with local governments and other stakeholders around the county to develop a priority list of projects they'd like to see funded. More on The Source.

Good story also by Laura Nelson in the LA Times. She noted that voters in LA County have approved sales taxes for transportation improvements 3 times in the past (in 1980, 1990, and 2008) and that a poll Metro did earlier this year suggests that this new sales tax would be likely to get the 2/3 vote needed to pass. The Times also listed 5 rail lines that "could" be built with $120 billion, including: a Purple Line subway extension to Santa Monica, an extension of the Crenshaw Line north to Hollywood, the LAX people mover, the conversion of the Orange Line BRT in the San Fernando Valley to light rail, a rail project linking the Westside to the San Fernando Valley via the Sepulveda Pass. Read more in the LA Times.