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San Joaquin One Voice®
San Joaquin One Voice® is SJCOG’s advocacy program for San Joaquin County promoting projects, programs and issues of regional significance to federal legislators and agencies typically through an annual trip to Washington, D.C. The purpose of One Voice® is to advocate for new or increased funding and/or new or amended legislation for issues and projects of regional significance to the San Joaquin region.
Staff will be attending an in-person advocacy trip to Washington D.C. from May 6-11, 2023.
The One Voice® approach is positively recognized and viewed as a means of helping our elected federal representatives to prioritize and shepherd needed projects and programs crucial to improving infrastructure and transportation choices in San Joaquin County through the federal budget process.
Our efforts are positively recognized at the federal level and we have been encouraged to continue our collaborative approach and build upon the relationships and communications established with our federal representatives.
With the return for "earmarks", Congress has the opportunity to augment infrastructure authorizations with discretionary appropriations benefiting specific regions while the federal government still distributes hundreds of billions of dollars through formula and grant programs. The San Joaquin One Voice® delegation takes this opportunity to receive counsel from legislators, legislative staff and the administration about the various federal programs and guide us on how we can successfully compete in the grant process.
SJCOG initiated the first San Joaquin One Voice® trip in 2000, seeking federal funding for projects of broad, community-wide benefit within San Joaquin County.
The goal was, and remains, to assemble a public-private delegation, select prioritized projects, and then visit Congressional and Federal departmental representatives in Washington, D.C. to pursue funding and grant opportunities.
When earmarks were discontinued by the Congress in 2010, it changed the way funding was dispersed. Funding is now by formula or discretionary meaning San Joaquin County was competing for funds on a national level.
Building on the broad-based, public-private coalition SJCOG assembled, Congressional representatives and their staff have welcomed and encouraged the One Voice® communications as a means of assisting federal representatives identify, prioritize and shepherd much-needed projects and programs through the federal budgetary process.
In addition to federal dollars for projects, One Voice® also focused on specific policies. Participants have testified at committee hearings on water, educated Congress and the Administration on the housing crisis (leading to federal assistance), and worked with Congressional embers on the introduction of legislation for such policies as streamlining environmental review.
The annual San Joaquin One Voice® trip to Washington D.C. will be held from May 8-12, 2022. Twenty-seven projects were brought forward in accordance with the legislative themes adopted by the SJCOG Board of Directors on March 24, 2022.
Legislative themes:
- Social Equity and Accessibility
- Transportation Sustainability and Resiliency
- Innovation and Mobility
- Economic Growth
One Voice® projects:
- Lathrop Road/Interstate 5 Interchange Improvement Project (Lathrop)
- Louise Avenue/Interstate 5 Interchange Improvement Project (Lathrop)
- City of Lodi Broadband Infrastructure Project (Lodi)
- State Route 120/Airport Way Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI) Project (Manteca)
- State Route 120/Main Street Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI) Project (Manteca)
- Rail Bridge Replacement and Rail Improvements Project (Port of Stockton)
- Rail Rehabilitation and Upgrades (Port of Stockton)
- Critical Urban Freight Corridor (CUFC) - Washington Street Widening (Port of Stockton)
- Ripon Multi-Modal Station (Ripon)
- River Road and North Ripon Road Traffic Signal Project (Ripon)
- State Route 99/120 Interchange Project Phase B (SJCOG)
- Martin Luther King Rail Underpass Mobility Enhancement (SJRRC)
- North Lathrop Transfer Station (SJRRC)
- The Rail Academy of Central California (TRACC) (SJRRC)
- Diesel Hybrid Bus Project (SJRTD)
- Pedestrian Collision and Avoidance System (PCADS) Project (SJRTD)
- Transit Vehicle Public Display Monitor System Project (SJRTD)
- Bus Replacement Project (SJRTD & UCP)
- Grant Line Road Corridor Improvement Project--Tracy City Limit to Eleventh Street (San Joaquin County)
- Interstate 205 Managed Lanes Project (San Joaquin)
- Stockton Metropolitan Airport Terminal Modernization and Expansion (San Joaquin & Stockton Metro Airport)
- Diamond Grade Separation Supporting Projects (Stockton)
- Lower Sacramento Road Corridor (Stockton)
- City of Stockton Sustainability Plan (Stockton)
- Central Valley Gateway Project (Tracy)
- Interstate 205/Lammers Interchange (Tracy)
- Valley Link Commuter Rail Project (Tracy)