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Streetsblog California
CA Legislative Update: ATP, Bikes, and Budget
California budget negotiations have moved into high gear with the naming of Senate and Assembly members to the bicameral budget conference committee. Leaders of the two bodies named five members each—up from three in previous years—and the conference committee held its first hearing this morning. The committee's job is to find agreement among the three competing state budget proposals before June 15, when it must submit a final version to both houses to be voted on. The final budget agreement must be signed by the governor by the end of the month.
June 1, 2016
Beall Proposal Tries To End California Transportation Funding Stalemate
Last year, Governor Brown called a “Special Session” to prod the California legislature to find solutions to what seemed an intractable problem: how to fund transportation needs in the state. Some bills were introduced, some hearings were held, but the biggest result of all the ballyhoo is a confirmation that the problem is, indeed, intractable.
April 28, 2016
California Legislative Update: Bikes, Transit, Environmental Justice, More
Today is the deadline to pass any policy bills that have a fiscal impact out of all California legislative committees, so the last two weeks have seen a flurry of long hearings. Here's a quick recap of pertinent bills.
April 22, 2016
A Few Bad Bills
The California legislature is back from spring recess and the process of hearing and arguing about bills is beginning in earnest. In the next few days, Streetsblog California will talk about some exciting bills coming up that may need your support.
March 31, 2016
CA Legislature Wrestles With How Best to Invest Climate Funds
As the California legislative session revs up, several committees have been holding oversight hearings on the state's cap-and-trade system.
February 19, 2016
A State Legislator Is Really Proposing to Slash Fines for Running a Red Light to Turn Right
State Senator Jerry Hill (D-Millbrae) has been earning a lot of attention recently for a proposal to slash the fine for drivers turning right at a red light without stopping. This move seems particularly heartless considering California's streak of leading the country in traffic fatalities, nearly a quarter of which were pedestrians. Failure to yield is one of the top five causes of traffic crashes.
January 28, 2016
State Releases Proposed Rules That Would Finally End LOS in Enviro. Law
Earlier today, the State of California released its anticipated final draft set of changes to the state's environmental law, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Under the new CEQA rule, environmental studies will use measurements that better correspond to actual environmental costs and benefits. This realigns the CEQA process to foster better transit, more walking and bicycling, and less driving.
January 22, 2016
Governor Brown Signs Clean Energy Bill
With the slightly smoggy skyline of Los Angeles as backdrop, Governor Jerry Brown today signed S.B. 350, the bill that codifies many of the climate change goals he outlined last January.
October 7, 2015
Here’s the Committee That Could Fix CA’s Transportation Funding Crisis
Senate and Assembly leaders appointed members to the joint committee that will now take up the issue of transportation funding as called for by Governor Jerry Brown last June. The Transportation Infrastructure Conference Committee will consider pending legislation that was leftover from the regular session, including bills that would increase funding for transit and for active transportation.
September 25, 2015
2015 Legislative Wrap-up: California Bills That Won and Lost
In its rush to Friday's deadline, the California legislature managed to pull off a win with the passage of its leaders' signature climate change bill, even if S.B. 350 had been scaled back in the days leading to the final vote. The other main climate change bill, S.B. 32, was held over until next year because it could not muster enough votes to pass. Both bills were held up by demands from Assembly Democrats that the authority of the California Air Resources Board be reduced, subjecting its every action to legislative approval. The governor and Senate leaders refused to give on that point.
September 14, 2015