State Capitol Updates
Streetsblog California
CA Legislative Update: Student Transit Pass Bill Is Dead—For Now
A bill that would have created a statewide program to fund low-cost transit passes for students stalled out in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
August 15, 2016
Legislative Update: GHG Targets, Cap&Trade, Transportation Special Session
The California legislature returned from its summer break last week and now has one month to finish all the business it started in this session.
August 9, 2016
Will California Legislature Make it Legal to Roll through Red Lights?
No, this is not about a bill to allow bicyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs, sorry. This is about a bill that supposedly set out to lower fines for cars that turn right on red without stopping. It is sailing unopposed through the state legislature.
August 2, 2016
New CA Law Requires Temporary Plates for Newly Purchased Cars
Via Ted Rogers at Biking in L.A. comes news that the State of California will be joining dozens of other states in requiring all new cars to have temporary 90-day license plates. The goal of the law, A.B. 516, is to make it easier to identify drivers breaking the law, be they toll-lane scofflaws or hit-and-run murderers.
July 26, 2016
Legislative Update: Student Transit Passes, ATP, Equity in Climate Policies
This week in Sacramento, policy committees are rushing through a last-minute load of bills. The July recess is looming, and this week is the last opportunity to pass bills in the 2015-16 session. That has led to limited public discussion in some committees, with committee chairs admonishing attendees to keep remarks short. Meanwhile amendments are being proposed, revised, and refined behind the scenes.
June 29, 2016
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
U.C. Institute For Transportation Studies Vies For Increased State Funding
California’s 2016 budget may include additional funding for sustainable transportation research, education, and outreach. The California Assembly’s proposed budget includes a $3 million increase for the University of California Institute of Transportation Studies. The funding increase was shepherded through the budget subcommittee by Assemblymember Richard Bloom, a SBCA Streetsie award winner. The budget item will now be considered by a conference committee.
May 31, 2016
Governor’s Budget Revision: Nothing New for Transportation
Governor Brown issued his May revision of the state budget proposal, and in terms of transportation, it's pretty much the same story we told in January. That is, he proposes a variety of new revenues, including a “road improvement charge” and higher gas taxes, to fix California's transportation infrastructure.
May 13, 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