With just months remaining in his second term, Governor Gavin Newsom has issued a sweeping executive (PDF) order directing state agencies to accelerate the delivery of transit projects across California, improve coordination among agencies, and make it easier for transit providers to access state funding.

The executive order, signed Thursday, does not include any new funding for transit agencies. Instead, it focuses on reducing bureaucratic barriers, speeding project delivery, improving transparency, and implementing recommendations made by the Senate Bill 125 Transit Transformation Task Force.

“California is doubling down on innovation to deliver faster, cleaner, and more connected transportation options,” Newsom said in a statement announcing the order. “This executive order helps remove barriers so transit agencies can deliver projects more quickly and better serve Californians.”

The timing is notable.

The order comes just days after the Legislature approved a state budget that failed to provide a long-term funding solution for California’s transit agencies, despite warnings from operators and advocates that many systems face looming service cuts. It also arrives during the final months of Newsom’s administration, raising questions about how much of the directive can be implemented before a new governor takes office next year if the new governor has different priorities.

“We appreciate Governor Newsom’s renewed commitment to delivering transit and pedestrian infrastructure projects more quickly,” writes Jeanie Ward-Waller on behalf of Climate Plan. 

“These projects provide Californians with safe, affordable ways to reach their daily destinations. But faster delivery alone isn’t enough – these projects also need reliable funding. Unfortunately, the executive order does not address the significant transit funding shortfall recently created in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.“

What the Order Does

The governor’s office described the order as an effort to modernize project delivery while making it easier for local agencies to build transit infrastructure and adopt new technologies.

Among its directives, the executive order requires Caltrans to identify and regularly update a statewide list of transit priority projects, develop standardized designs and specifications for transit facilities, create a technical assistance team for active transportation projects, and establish public dashboards tracking the state’s performance in awarding grants and reimbursing local agencies.

The order also instructs state agencies to implement recommendations developed by the SB 125 Transit Transformation Task Force, including streamlining grant administration, improving coordination among state departments, pursuing greater authority over federal environmental review, and expanding opportunities to use federal highway dollars for transit projects.

Another section directs Caltrans to continue implementing its policy of prioritizing transit improvements on the state highway system and to develop updated design guidance for bus lanes, transit signal priority, and other transit infrastructure.

The executive order also seeks to improve the passenger experience by expanding the California Integrated Travel Project, an initiative intended to make transit information and fare payment more seamless across agencies.

Transportation advocates have long argued that California makes it unnecessarily difficult to deliver transit projects because responsibilities are spread across multiple state agencies with different funding programs, standards, and timelines. The order attempts to address many of those longstanding complaints through administrative changes rather than legislation.

Still, the directive arrives against the backdrop of an unresolved funding crisis.

Earlier this month, transit advocates criticized the Newsom administration after negotiations over the state’s cap-and-trade reauthorization package failed to produce a dedicated long-term funding source for transit operations. While the budget preserves some existing programs, agencies across California continue to warn that they face structural operating deficits that could lead to service reductions in coming years.

An executive order cannot appropriate new funding, and many of the challenges facing transit agencies stem from declining operating revenues rather than project delivery delays. Even if every directive in the order is implemented, agencies will still need sustainable operating support to maintain and expand service.

Still, advocates welcomed the administration’s recognition that California’s permitting, funding, and project delivery systems can be improved.

“As an appointed member of the SB 125 Transit Transformation Task Force who worked with transit agencies, advocates, researchers, labor, and business leaders over eighteen months and more than a dozen meetings to develop a set of key recommendations, Executive Order N-7-26 is a huge step forward,” writes Eli Lipmen, the executive Director of Move California in a statement. Lipmen’s full comments can be found at the bottom of the article.

For transit agencies, the executive order offers a roadmap for making California government work more efficiently. Whether it ultimately leaves a lasting legacy may depend less on the directives themselves than on whether Newsom’s successor follows through on implementing them—and whether state leaders finally address the financial challenges that continue to threaten transit service across California.

Statement of Eli Lipman of Move California

As an appointed member of the SB 125 Transit Transformation Task Force who worked with transit agencies, advocates, researchers, labor, and business leaders over eighteen months and more than a dozen meetings to develop a set of key recommendations, Executive Order N-7-26 is a huge step forward. 

As this Administration ends and another begins, it is important that the recommendations in the report are codified—both through legislation and by executive directive. This document provides clear direction to several state agencies—Caltrans in particular—that starts shifting a decades long focus on roadways and freeways to the provision of public and active transportation alternatives and the acceleration of affordable housing near transit. 

In particular, formally establishing Caltrans as a “mobility manager” as defined by the Federal Transit Administration and NEPA assignment could mean big state projects like the Sepulveda Transit Corridor and High Speed Rail could get delivered quicker. The provision to implement Bus Rapid Transit and bus-only lanes on state highways has the potential to transform our transit networks. Allowing excess toll revenues to be used for unmet transit needs and transit signal/bus lane priority are good news for transit riders. Funding criteria that prioritize transit projects in jurisdictions with a “pro-Housing Designation” could accelerate transit near dense clusters of affordable h housing. And the provision that allows the California Integrated Travel Project (Cal-ITP to integrate between systems will improve the transit customer experience. 

All told, this Executive Order has the potential to lead to a dramatic shift in how we plan, construct, implement, and deliver transportation alternatives in California. The current Administration will have to run, not walk, to implement these. At the end of the day, it will be up to the next Administration and the Legislature to ensure that this is more than just ink on paper.