State Capitol Updates
Streetsblog California
Senate Leader Dismisses Idea of Using Cap-and-Trade Funds for Road Repairs
At a press conference in Sacramento yesterday, Senate President Pro-Tem Kevin de Leon dismissed the idea, floated by Republican legislators and anti-tax advocates, that revenue in the state's Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction fund could be used for road maintenance and repair.
August 20, 2015
Finally Transit Is Included in CA Transportation Funding Discussions
On Friday, in separate press events in Los Angeles and San Francisco, several members of the California legislature presented new bills for consideration in the ongoing legislative special session on transportation funding.
August 17, 2015
California Legislative Update
The California legislature has departed for summer break, so for the next few weeks all will be quiet in Sacramento, at least on the surface. Following are a few highlights on bills that moved through before the policy committee deadline, which was Friday.
July 20, 2015
California Legislative Update
In Sacramento, bills are beginning to move more quickly through the committee process as this week's policy committee deadline approaches. Below are highlights on some of the bills pertaining to sustainable streets issues.
July 13, 2015
Bill to Reform Parking Minimums Passes CA Senate Transportation Committee
After some delay and a surreal debate, a bill that could help create affordable housing by easing parking requirements passed the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee on Tuesday on a 7-4 vote. Now it goes to the Committee on Governance and Finance, where it will be heard as soon as next week.
July 10, 2015
Dems, Repubs Far Apart on Solving CA Transportation Funding
The California legislature held its first joint special session on transportation funding just before the holiday weekend. The session was called by Governor Jerry Brown when he and the legislature punted some big decisions so they could sign a budget before the June 30 deadline.
July 6, 2015
Amended Hit-and-Run Alert System Bill Sails Through Committee
After last week's warning that Assemblymember Mike Gatto's legislation to create a "Yellow Alert" system was imperiled by Senate Transportation and Housing Committee staff and the California Highway Patrol's (CHP) objections, there was a feeling of a looming showdown before today's committee hearing. Assembly Bill 8 would create a system to use electronic road signs and the emergency alert system to notify people when a deadly hit-and-run crash occurred to help apprehend suspects. A similar system has proven effective in Colorado.
June 30, 2015
Legislative Update: Limiting Cap-and-Trade Transit Funds to Large Projects
Last week, the California legislature put off making a decision on how to spend the portion of cap-and-trade revenue that hasn't already been allocated. Meanwhile Senator Jim Beall (D-San Jose) is shepherding through a bill, S.B. 9, that seeks to limit funds from one of the existing cap-and-trade programs to large, expensive transit projects.
June 19, 2015
Legislative Update: Budget, Cap-and-Trade, LOS, Gas Tax
This week the California legislature was mostly focused on the budget, since the Assembly and the Senate must by law present a budget bill to the governor by midnight on Monday, June 15. The joint Budget Conference Committee succeeded in producing an agreement [PDF] well before the deadline; their budget bill, A.B. 93, should be available later today, ready to be voted on in both houses on Monday.
June 12, 2015