Capitol Weekly’s Top 100: Toks Omishakin

No. 42 Toks Omishakin

Seriously, is there a more thankless job than being the Secretary of the California State Transportation Agency, especially now when it seems every highway in the state is undergoing a forever-and-a-day rebuild? People who commute probably wake up cursing your name, or would if they knew who you are. But rest assured that folks around the governor’s office know and deeply respect Toks Omishakin, and they listen when he talks. And they should – he has eight state departments, boards and agencies under him, totaling over 42,000 employees, and manages a budget in excess of $30 billion annually. Those entities include CalTrans, the DMV, the CHP, the High Speed Rail Authority and the California Transportation Commission. Yeah, that’s a lot of responsibility. But Omishakin has more than proven up to the task. He took over CalSTA in 2022 after having spent eight years as the Director at CalTrans. The road ahead will be tough as he tries to balance economic and environmental priorities and finding innovative streams of transportation funding amidst the decline in gas tax revenue and DC cutbacks.