Legislative Update: Current Status of Bicycle/Pedestrian Bills

"Suspense Day" at the state legislature is supposed to refer to the day Appropriations Committees pass or kill bills by speed-reading through long lists of those bills. But it also means observers are in suspense until they find out the fates of the bills they're concerned about.

Now it is over and done, and many of the bills Streetsblog is tracking have moved on to a floor vote. That means they have passed all committees in their house of origin - in most cases this year, that's the Assembly. If they pass the Assembly, they move on to the Senate where they go through the entire process again (with a deadline of September 30 to get all the way through).

That means: if you support any of these bills, now would be a good time to contact your representative to tell them so.

A few bills of interest were held without discussion, however, which probably means they are dead for this year. Below is a list of the current status of some of these bills, with links to Streetsblog posts discussing them in more detail.

ALIVE

• Stop as Yield: A.B. 1713 from Assemblymember Tasha Boerner Horvath (D-Encinitas). Previously passed to the Assembly floor.
• Freedom to Walk: A.B. 2147 from Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco). Passed Appropriations Committee, on Assembly floor.
• "Omnibike" Bill: A.B. 1909 from Assemblymember Laura Friedman (D-Glendale). Passed the Assembly and has been assigned to the Senate Transportation Committee.
• Align Transportation Funding with Climate Goals: A.B. 2438 from Friedman. Passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
• Ending Freeway Expansion through Sensitive Communities: A.B. 1778 from Assemblymember Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens). Passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
• Align Regional Planning and Investments with Climate Goals: A.B. 2237 from Friedman. Passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
• Free Student Transit Passes: A.B. 1919 from Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-Pasadena). This bill passed the Appropriations Committee, with an amendment to make it an opt-in program, with funding allocated by existing formulas based on farebox revenues.
• The Step Ahead Bill: A.B. 2264 from Assemblymember Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica). This bill, which would require new traffic control signals to give pedestrians a head start, was amended to apply to state-controlled signals only.
• Seamless Bay Area Transit: S.B. 917 from Senator Josh Becker (D-San Mateo): Passed Senate Appropriations.
• Bike and Pedestrian Safety in General Plans: S.B. 932 from Senator Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge). Passed the Senate Appropriations Committee.
• No Parking Minimums near Transit: A.B. 2097 from Friedman. This was previously passed by the Assembly Appropriations Committee and is on the Assembly floor.
• Bike-Share Insurance Bill: A.B. 371 from Reginald Jones-Sawyer (D-South Los Angeles), which some have referred to as the "kill bike-share bill," is still sitting in the Senate Insurance Committee where it parked itself last year. Note that means it has already passed the Assembly on a floor vote.

HELD BACK

• Speed Camera Pilot Program: A.B. 2336 from Assemblymember Friedman was not passed by the Appropriations Committee.
• Safe Bus Stops: A.B. 1975 from Adrin Nazarian (D-Pacoima). This bill, which would have asserted the importance of decent bus stops that include shade, failed to pass the committee.