State Capitol Updates
Streetsblog California
Transportation Committee Hears Bills: Active Transpo, High-Speed Rail, More
A marathon hearing in the Assembly Transportation Committee yesterday was a sign of looming deadlines in the California legislature. It was also an illustration of the strange and sometimes surreal world in which California's laws are debated and created.
April 12, 2016
CA Transportation Funding Should Reflect State Goals
Transportation funding in California has, as SBCA readers must know by now, reached a “crisis.” Shrinking gas tax revenues, combined with an increasing reliance on local sales taxes limited to specific transportation projects, have left our overbuilt and under-maintained highways, roads, and bridges without enough funds to keep them in a basic state of good repair.
April 7, 2016
A Few Good Bills
Continuing our coverage of bills making their way through the California legislative session, today we're highlighting some bills that we like. Some of these will likely be heard first at the Assembly Transportation Committee this Monday, April 11.
April 5, 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
Santa Monica Lawmaker Takes Aim at California’s Housing Shortage
California State Assemblymember Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica) has set his sights on tackling the dire shortage of homes—and the resulting affordability crisis—currently facing the state.
March 16, 2016
Legislative Update: CalBike Agenda for 2016
The California Bicycle Coalition, aka CalBike, continues to push for increasing funding for the Active Transportation Program, which currently receives $120 million per year. The bike coalition wants the state to add $100 million to the program, which sounds like a lot but is roughly one percent of the total transportation budget—even though bike and walking trips make up nearly 19 percent of all trips made in California. The state budget planning process, in which the two legislative houses and the governor negotiate a final budget by June, is one avenue for getting more funding.
March 3, 2016
Governor Signs Bill to Ease Parking Requirements for Affordable Housing
Governor Jerry Brown had a Sunday deadline to sign legislation or veto it. Late in the day on Friday he signed Assembly Bill 744, which allows affordable housing developers to build less parking than many local zoning regulations currently permit.
October 12, 2015
Governor Signs Bill Banning Tolls on Bridges for Bicyclists and Pedestrians
Yesterday, Governor Jerry Brown signed A.B. 40, legislation that bans tolling bicycle and pedestrians on bridges that have tolls for cars throughout the state.
October 8, 2015
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