State Capitol Updates
Streetsblog California
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
California Legislative Update
This week Sacramento saw long hearings in the Senate and Assembly, as both houses pushed to meet their deadline to pass bills. Any bill that doesn't pass its house of origin by the end of this week is dead--for this year at least.
June 5, 2015
California Legislative Update: Budgets and Appropriations
In the state legislature this week, the only policy committee that met was the Appropriations Committee, which voted to move forward or let die a long list of bills that have a cost to the state.
May 29, 2015
CA Budget Revision Shows No Increase for Active Transportation
Governor Jerry Brown's “May revise” of his January budget plan, released yesterday, did not include any increases in funding for the Active Transportation Program (ATP), the main source of funds for building bicycling and pedestrian infrastructure in California.
May 15, 2015
California Legislative Update: Parking Requirements, Cap-and-Trade Funds
This week we're tracking some of the bills that got left out of last week's too-long legislative update. These bills relate to transportation funding, climate change, and urban planning.
May 8, 2015
California Legislative Update: Bike Bills, Transportation Funding, Climate Change
This was a super busy week in Sacramento. Any bill that requires approval from the Appropriations Committee had to pass out of all its policy committees by today. Naturally, that meant very long hearings, as there was lots of legislation to be debated up to the last minute.
May 1, 2015
Assembly Committee Moves Bill to Delay Level Of Service Phase-Out
Buried in a five-hour long meeting of the Assembly Natural Resources Committee yesterday, a short discussion ended in a vote to move legislation that will delay the state's shift away from car-centric planning.
April 29, 2015
CA Legislative Update: Bike Lights and Three Feet for Safety
Here is our regular roundup of California legislation of interest to livable streets advocates. As always, let us know if we missed anything in the comments.
April 24, 2015
Interview: Mike Gatto Talks Hit and Runs and Why Jerry Brown Will Get Behind a “Yellow Alert” System
Last week, I conducted a phone interview with Assemblyman Mike Gatto, best known to Streetsblog readers for his tireless work fighting for tougher laws to prevent hit and run drivers. While Gatto's efforts have proven popular with safety advocates, his center piece legislation to create a statewide hit and run alert system was vetoed last session by Governor Jerry Brown after sailing through the Assembly and Senate.
April 22, 2015
Bill Asking for Delay in CEQA Reform Guidelines Amended But Alive
An attempt by large developers to undermine promised reforms to the state's landmark environmental review law (CEQA) is winding its way through the Assembly.
April 21, 2015