calbike insider Archives

Inside the Black Box of Appropriations

May 10, 2023/by Jared Sanchez

It is now that time of the year where California’s appropriations committees wield their influence in the legislative process, as the state’s budget begins to come into focus. Appropriations committees have outsize power and can affect the passage of a bill in unexpected ways. Here’s a look behind the scenes.

Kill bill

If a California senator or assemblymember wants to kill a bill, one of the sneakier ways to do so is in the legislative appropriations committees. One member with the ear of the appropriations chair can get a bill put into the committee’s “Suspense File,” possibly never to return.

What’s behind this seemingly undemocratic quirk of California’s legislature, and what can we do about it?

What is the appropriations committee?

In both the California State Senate and Assembly, as legislation moves through the process, any bill that requires money or has any fiscal impact will advance to their respective appropriations committees. The committees must approve any additional costs before the bill goes to a full vote.

How a bill gets killed in appropriations — the Suspense File

Led by the Senate and Assembly appropriations committees, any legislation that meets a certain fiscal threshold will be placed in the Suspense File (cue ominous music). Generally, if the cost of a bill is determined to be $50,000 or more to the General Fund, or $150,000 or more to a special fund, that bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.

Many bills stay in the Suspense File until the fiscal deadline passes, then disappear from the legislative process entirely. The Suspense File was developed as a mechanism for slowing the process and giving legislators a way to consider all the bills that are going to put significant pressure on the budget.

What really is the Suspense File?

The Suspense File is among the most opaque and secretive practices at the Capitol, and it allows legislative leaders to not only shelve proposals that are too expensive, but also more quietly dispatch those that are controversial or politically inconvenient. It’s well known at the state Capitol that powerful legislators can use the Suspense File as a political tool to keep controversial bills from reaching the Assembly or Senate floor — typically with no explanation, and sometimes without a public vote.

Coming back from the dead: moving bills out of the Suspense File

A bill still has a fighting chance until the Suspense File hearing, when the appropriations committees consider all the bills in the file and decide all at one time which get to move on for debate. Lobbyists, legislators, and constituents play an active and important role in deciding which bills move forward.

How CalBike fights for bills we support, with your help

Like any other civic process, shedding light and making noise can influence the course of a bill in appropriations. When one of CalBike’s bills is in danger of going into the Suspense File, we work behind the scenes to convince key legislators to move it forward. We also ask our members to send emails and make calls to support the bill.

Sometimes that works, and sometimes a good bill dies in appropriations. Knowing how the process works helps us fight for measures that improve biking, equity, and joy. We couldn’t do it without your help.

Which bills can you help get off suspense this year?

Most of our priority bills this year are or will be placed on suspense. Three bills in particular are in jeopardy, given their controversial nature and history. AB 1525, SB 50, and AB 645 are some of the most sensitive bills. If we feel one of our bills is likely to die on suspense, we’ll ask you to take action by emailing or calling your representative or the appropriations chair. Keep an eye out for action alerts and, if you see we’re up against the Suspense File, now you know what that means, and how meaningful your action can be.

CalBike Insider: First Look at 2023 Active Transportation Bills

February 2, 2023/by Jared Sanchez

It’s still early days, and CalBike is busy working with legislators and allies to firm up our legislative agenda for 2023, but we’ve already got a few bills on our radar. Here’s an early peek at the 2023 legislation that could make California streets more walkable, bikeable, and equitable.

Pave the Bike Lane

Once again, Assemblymember Laura Friedman is leading the way with critical legislation to turn plans into action. AB 6 fixes a misalignment between regional planning and funding to execute those plans. It would require regional transportation agencies to prioritize projects that reduce GHGs and vehicle miles traveled and promote active transportation. It’s a much-needed change that will help move complete streets projects from planning to implementation.

Divest from the Freeway

AB 7, also by Assemblymember Friedman, ends funding for freeway projects that expand capacity for single-occupancy vehicles. It’s a policy shift we need to mitigate climate change and the toxic pollutants and displacement that endanger communities near freeways.

Safety Stop Redux

After the Bicycle Safety Stop failed to become law twice, Assemblymember Tasha Boerner Horvath introduced AB 73, which proposes pilot programs to test the effects of allowing people on bikes to treat stop signs as yields. While the many states that have already adopted similar laws could be considered (successful) tests, we support anything that moves California out of the dark ages on the safety stop.

Vehicle Weight Fee

Assemblymember Chris Ward has introduced AB 251, a measure to study the relationship between vehicle weight and rates of injury to pedestrians, bike riders, and other vulnerable road users. The study would look at the possibility of assessing a weight fee on passenger vehicles, making it more expensive to drive a bulkier car. We hope it disincentivizes people from buying more lethal vehicles.

Limit Pretextual Policing

As recent tragic events in Memphis illustrated yet again, giving police the power to stop, detain, and aggressively harass people for minor traffic offenses too often leads to violence, and even death, especially if the person is Black or Latino. SB 50, introduced by Senator Steven Bradford, would limit the police’s ability to make pretextual stops and thus limit racial profiling that continues to be rampant. CalBike strongly supports this measure because this bill will curtail the all-too-common pretextual bike stops that make riders of color even more unsafe.

The legislative slate hasn’t been finalized yet, and many more crucial pieces of legislation are in the works. We’ll have more to report soon when CalBike releases its 2023 agenda.

CalBike Insider: Kudos for the Appointment of Dr. Adonia Lugo to the CTC

April 29, 2022/by Kevin Claxton

CalBike is delighted that Governor Newsom appointed Dr. Adonia Lugo to fill a vacancy on the California Transportation Commission. Dr. Lugo is a welcome and highly-qualified addition to the commission.

CalBike advocates for a more inclusive CTC

CalBike was a member of a coalition that sent a list of candidates for the CTC vacancy, including Dr. Lugo. Her qualifications are best summed up by the group’s letter:

“Cultural anthropologist Adonia E. Lugo, Ph.D. is the chair of the Urban Sustainability Department at Antioch University Los Angeles. She was born and raised in traditional and unceded Acjachemen territory and now lives and works in traditional and unceded Tongva territory. Professor Lugo began investigating sustainable mobility, race, and space during her graduate studies at UC Irvine when she co-created CicLAvia and the organization today known as People for Mobility Justice in Los Angeles. In addition to her role at Antioch LA, Professor Lugo is an urban anthropologist with Pueblo Planning, a core organizer of The Untokening, and a co-founder of the Mobility Justice Research Network.”

Dr. Lugo still needs confirmation before she takes her seat on the CTC and CalBike will be pushing for the senate to approve her.

Long overdue change at the CTC

The CTC describes itself like this on its website: “The Commission is responsible for programming and allocating funds for the construction of highway, passenger rail, transit and active transportation improvements throughout California.” Unfortunately, for too long the commission has focused much of its energy and resources on the highway portion of its mandate and neglected passenger rail, transit, and active transportation.

Thanks to advocacy from CalBike and other NGOs, plus help from allies in Sacramento, California has begun to elevate active transportation as a way to decarbonize and humanize our communities. However, change at the agency level tends to move slowly and the climate crisis is barreling toward us with increasing speed, so CalBike will continue to push for more and faster changes. We are encouraged by the elevation of Toks Omishaken to Transportation Secretary and, if the governor chooses an equally enlightened choice to replace him at the head of Caltrans, California will be moving in the right direction.

CalBike Insider: California Poised to Mandate Secure Bicycle Parking

April 27, 2022/by Kevin Claxton

Last week, Assemblymember Kevin McCarty introduced a bill to require secure bicycle parking in all new residential buildings, and CalBike was there to testify in support.

AB 2863, the Bike Parking Bill, will require the Department of Housing and Community Development to create standards for bicycle parking in new residential buildings in the next regular update of their standards. It also requires the California Building Standards Commission to update its standards for parking in commercial buildings and specifies that the requirements must be independent of the number of vehicle parking spaces. That’s an essential consideration as more and more buildings are being built with few parking spaces or none at all, so local regulations that require bike parking in proportion to car parking are becoming unworkable. And as more Californians turn to the bicycle for healthy, low-cost, green transportation, the need for safe bike storage is critical.

While the Bike Parking Bill does not immediately impose a mandatory standard, it is the best bill about bike parking that the legislature has considered to date. Previous bike parking bills didn’t pass, in part, because they imposed a strict requirement for the number of parking spaces. The Bike Parking Bill adopts a better approach: By giving the appropriate government agency the responsibility to develop standards, it allows the agency to adopt flexible regulations that meet the needs of different kinds of housing. Also, agencies can adjust regulations in the future, as situations dictate, without an act of the legislature.

McCarty has handed the Bike Parking Bill to Assemblymember Lori Wilson, who will introduce it as it moves through the legislature. CalBike will continue to advocate for this essential measure.

Measures like this demonstrate why your support for CalBike is crucial. While it’s appropriate that the agency develop the standards, it’s vital for a stakeholder organization like the California Bicycle Coalition to stay involved. You can be sure that other stakeholders, who are more interested in reducing their costs than meeting residents’ needs for sustainable transportation, will be at the table. CalBike is the voice in Sacramento for Californians who care about biking. Once this bill passes, we will be there to make sure that housing developers don’t water down this essential regulation and that future construction in California provides bike parking that accommodates all types of bikes.

CalBike Insider: $2 billion for bikes in 2022

December 1, 2021/by Kevin Claxton

California has a current budget surplus of $31 billion. CalBike is advocating for the governor and legislature to put $2 billion of that surplus toward infrastructure projects that will make our communities safer and more inviting for biking and walking. We’re joined by our allies at Safe Routes Partnership, Transform, California Walks, Move LA, Planning and Conservation League, and Active SGV. That $2B would represent a one-time tenfold increase in funding for active transportation projects, but it will only touch the beginning of California’s need for infrastructure improvements.

The Active Transportation Program was created in 2013 by combining several state and federal funding sources into one account to support bike and pedestrian safety. Total funding was $134 million in 2013 ($160 million in today’s dollars), and the ATP had $238 million in 2020 (a 49% increase). Still, that amount does not come close to meeting the exploding demand for safer streets. The most recent round of ATP funding, for example, drew 453 applications requesting a total of $2.3 billion.

At a funding level of about $220 million each year, the Active Transportation Program is the largest single dedicated source of funding for bike and pedestrian safety in the country. Yet, for a state the size of California, with a transportation budget of $32 billion, it’s nowhere near enough to meet the need.

That’s why the $2 billion boost to active transportation is critical. Only 40 submitted proposals were funded in Cycle 5, representing less than 10% of potential projects. In the last cycle, projects had to score at least 92 points out of a possible 100 in the evaluation process to receive ATP money. Our recommendation for a $500 million augmentation to Cycle 5 ATP projects will allow the state to fund approximately 80 shovel-ready projects immediately. That would make almost all the proposals with applications scoring 86 points or above. CalBike has created a spreadsheet showing all 453 applications, sorted by their score, so you can see where a project from your community fits and if it might get funding.

Of course, this one-time boost is just the beginning. With our allies, we are demanding a doubling of the Active Transportation Program to $500 million annually and a new program to build connected bikeway networks to create 15-minute neighborhoods where everyone’s typical daily needs are just a safe and comfortable 15-minute bike ride away. We’ll need your support to get it done. Please sign the petition.

Half Billion Dollars Stripped from Active Transportation Funding in State Budget Impasse

September 27, 2021/by Kevin Claxton

Earlier this year, CalBike Insider reported that California’s Active Transportation Program was slated to get an extra $500 million in funding from the state’s budget surplus. That’s enough to pay for approximately 80 high-scoring projects that got turned down in the last round of limited ATP funding. You can see the list of all projects here.

The funding for the ATP was part of a $9.6 billion package approved by the legislature in June. It was contingent upon an agreement with the governor about how to spend almost half of it on high-speed rail. The parties never reached a deal, so the funding, including the $500 million boost to the ATP, reverted to the General Fund on October 10.

In case you haven’t been following this tangled tale, here’s a quick recap. Despite the impact of COVID, California ended up with higher than expected revenue and a budget surplus of almost $76 billion. The budget that passed in July directed $9.6 billion of that surplus toward transportation projects. HSR would have gotten $4.2 billion. The ATP’s $500 million would have more than doubled its annual budget of $220 million. Scroll down for a list of all the projects that lost funding when this deal fell through.

The disagreement that killed these projects was about whether to prioritize HSR spending in the Central Valley or urban coastal regions. The governor wanted to prioritize the Central Valley portion, which is easier to build and necessary for the entire system to work as planned. The legislators wanted investment in the urban areas to speed up transit and give millions of their constituents in Los Angeles and the Bay Area a convenient alternative to sitting in traffic in their cars.

In his veto statement for AB 604, Governor Newsom included this language: “I look forward to re-engaging with the Legislature to finalize and pass a comprehensive transportation package early next year that invests in a wide variety of critically-necessary projects including high-speed rail….”

CalBike is concerned that the governor’s message did not explicitly include active transportation among the projects to be funded when they reach an agreement on HSR. Negotiations will continue during the legislative break, with hopes that the parties can return with a package in January or February.

CalBike will work to make sure that the ATP gets its proposed $500 million boost (at least!) in California’s 21/22 fiscal year. A predicted surplus for next year, which is projected to be at least $5 billion, could provide more incentive to invest some of the prior surplus in worthy transportation projects.

Here’s the complete list of defunded projects from the transportation package:

Los Angeles Olympics – $1 billion General Fund to deliver critical projects in time for the 2028 Olympic Games. These funds would be allocated through the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP). Eligible projects must be in the Southern California region and related to the transportation needs for hosting the 2028 Olympic Games.
Priority Transit and Rail Projects – $1 billion General Fund for transit and rail projects statewide that improve rail and transit connectivity between state and regional/ local services. These funds would also be competitively allocated through TIRCP.
Active Transportation—$500 million General Fund to advance projects that increase the proportion of trips accomplished by walking and biking, increase the safety and mobility of non-motorized users. The intent of this allocation is to fund the list of projects already submitted and scored through the CTC’s Active Transportation Program. While the CTC requested $2 billion for active transportation projects, this significant investment was considered sufficient at this time.
High Priority Grade Separations and Grade Crossing Improvements – $500 million General Fund to support critical safety improvements throughout the state. These funds would be allocated through a competitive grant program for both freight and intercity rail-related projects.
High-Speed Rail – $4.2 billion Proposition 1A funds to complete high-speed rail construction in the Central Valley, advance work to launch service between Merced and Bakersfield, advance planning and project design for the entire project, and leverage potential federal funds.
State Highway Rehabilitation and Local Roads and Bridges – $2 billion ($1.1 billion special funds through 2028, and $968 million federal funds) to support the advancement of priority State Highway Operation and Protection Program (SHOPP) projects, Interregional Transportation Improvement Program (ITIP) projects, and local road and bridge investments. The source of the $1.1 billion is interest income from the State Highway Account and other accounts.
Zero-Emission Rail and Transit Equipment Purchases and Infrastructure – $407 million ($100 million General Fund, $280 million Public Transportation Account (PTA), and $27 million federal funds) to demonstrate and purchase or lease state-of-the-art clean bus and rail equipment and infrastructure that eliminate fossil fuel emissions and increase intercity rail and intercity bus frequencies. This funding proposal was rejected by the legislature but remains part of the ongoing negotiations.

High-Speed Rail Funding Dispute Holds Up Transportation Spending

July 26, 2021/by Kevin Claxton

A disagreement over the allocation of high-speed rail (HSR) funding is holding billions of transportation dollars hostage in Sacramento, including the Active Transportation Program, California’s only dedicated source of funding for critical biking and walking infrastructure. But don’t worry — a solution to the impasse has begun to take shape.

Governor Newsom and the legislature are engaged in a particularly Californian fight. The governor wants to put the available HSR funding into building the core section already under construction in the Central Valley. (In 2020, CalBike’s Central Valley Project drafted plans to help improve biking and walking access to planned HSR stations in Merced, Bakersfield, and Fresno.) Legislators want the funding to go toward electrification of and improvements to existing rail services at the terminuses in the Bay Area and Los Angeles.

The resolution may come from the extra revenue in California’s coffers, thanks to higher than expected interest income. Legislators may be enticed to make a deal with the governor if the package includes funds to support popular projects in their districts. This could, in fact, work in favor of active transportation. Bike and pedestrian projects are very popular with constituents and the legislators know that, so the deal could include a significant additional investment in those projects.

The ATP provides $220 million in annual funding for active transportation projects across the state. The current budget already includes an additional $500 million in ATP funding. CalBike would love to see another funding boost on a similar scale, but nothing is certain at this point. Additional funds would be a welcome boost for the program, especially since at least $1 billion in good projects didn’t make the cut in the last ATP round because there was not enough money.

In addition to the extra ATP money, CalBike is pushing to increase the amount of funding allocated to build the connected bike networks and bike highways envisioned in AB 1147. This funding is separate from and in addition to the ATP monies.

E-bike incentive program budget request

June 17, 2021/by Kevin Claxton

CalBike, joined by dozens of allied organizations across the state, submitted a letter of support for Assemblymember Tasha Boerner Horvath’s request for a budget allocation to implement the proposed e-bike incentive program. The letter and its accompanying fact sheet express the consensus of a diversity of organizations that a $10 million investment in helping Californians get e-bikes is a great way to advance very many goals: climate change reduction, social equity, health and happiness, local economic sustainability, and traffic safety.

Dozens of organizations signed on, including statewide, regional, and local advocates for environmental sustainability, equity, and transportation justice; as well as influential public officials and agencies.

Snyder updates e-bike stakeholders on budget request

June 15, 2021/by Kevin Claxton

As you may know, our proposal for a $10 million e-bike incentive program has two tracks: AB 117, the bill that creates the program; and the budget request that funds it. Since our last Zoom policy briefing, we’ve focused entirely on the budget request. Our lobbyist Steve Wallauch and I have met directly with leadership in the Senate and Assembly budget committees, and coordinated similar meetings with key allies. The feedback we’re getting is uniformly positive and we are optimistic!

Here’s why. The budget to be approved by the Legislature today has more funds for the Air Resources Board, including for clean vehicle incentives, than the Governor proposed. However, the details of how that funding will be spent are undecided. They will be hashed out in a series of “budget trailer bills” between now and September. Furthermore,we expect that available funding will increase over the summer when the state receives revenues from the cap-and-trade auction.

This means we have a couple of months to get our program written into one of these trailer bills. Committee leadership write trailer bills behind closed doors, with no opportunity for public pressure. However, thanks to our alliances and our Sacramento team, we have the connections we need to get this program written into the budget.

Even better, a budget trailer bill gives us the opportunity to restore the language that was removed from AB 117 in order to advance it out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee. We worked hard to craft that language to balance competing objectives and satisfy diverse stakeholders—environmental justice groups, community organizations, individual consumers, bicycle retailers, and bicycle manufacturers. I will keep you informed as we work to get that language inserted into a budget trailer bill.

After we win the budget, either now or by September, the next steps will be to work with the implementing agency to develop the guidelines that will determine the details of the program.

Thanks again for your ongoing support and interest.

– Dave

P.S. We have done a good job of identifying influencers, but it never hurts to ask: if you have a close connection to one of these six people, let me know: Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, and budget leaders Nancy Skinner and Bob Wieckowski; and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, and budget leaders Phil Ting and Richard Bloom.

P.P.S. You’re receiving this message from me because you’ve signed one of our petitions or expressed support for the bill. This is not a mass mailing. If you want more regular updates, join our list using the form on our homepage at calbike.org.

CalBike Insider: The 12-bill limit, a status report, and CalBike in the news

June 4, 2021/by Kevin Claxton

Some of the most significant work to further better biking, active transportation, and healthy communities in California happens out of the spotlight. CalBike Insider shines the light on some of these critical developments in Sacramento and beyond.

The 12-bill limit puts a damper on the 2021 legislative session

COVID-19 put a severe crimp in the 2020 California legislative session, reordering priorities and forcing many good bills to wait another year. And the pandemic is still affecting legislation in 2021. It’s the justification for a new rule: each assemblymember and senator can only move 12 of the bills they authored out of their house of origin. The pandemic has made debate harder, so the legislature simply won’t consider as many bills. This is further evidence that our system for keeping the essential work of government moving in a crisis is suboptimal.

Status report: where are the bills to watch?

Today marks the deadline for bills introduced by one House to be approved by a majority of its members to advance to the second House. All of CalBike’s bills happened to be Assembly bills this year. Our three sponsored bills passed the Assembly; we went 3-1 on the bills we actively supported and 0-1 (so far) on a bill we opposed. CalBike is working hard to help create the world you want to see while working within a system that is not nearly as small-d democratic as we might like it to be.

The imposition of deadlines can force votes before legislators have a chance to fully understand the implications of the bills. We’re sure that’s why the bill we opposed passed so readily. The assemblymembers did not know its impact. Thankfully, the schedule is more generous while the bills are in the second house, giving us time to educate the Senators. Committee meetings will start in a week and continue until July 16, and then a one-month recess will provide some breathing room before the legislators return to vote on the bills in late August.

The distribution of power in the California legislature

Another undemocratic factor is the power of key legislators. It’s bad enough that merely 40 people in the Senate represent nearly 40 million Californians; it’s worse that a few of those elected officials (usually the ones who can raise lots of money) have extreme power compared to their colleagues. The Appropriations Committee is a good example. Its Chair has nearly independent control over whether a bill gets out of the committee and onto the floor where the members have a chance to vote on it. Two of the bills we love suffered harm in Assembly “Approps.” The committed killed bill to allow speed safety systems outright and weakened our e-bike affordability program through amendments, both without public debate. Even if the leaders of these committees are fantastic representatives who usually fight for everything we love, the process is not very democratic, and we wish that it were.

For details on these bills, and others, see our halftime legislative agenda update.

CalBike in the news

CalBike’s E-Bike Affordability Program has been getting the attention of the press. An editorial in support of the E-Bike Affordability Program was picked up across California and beyond:

Our bill to decriminalize jaywalking also generated headlines as it passed the Assembly. And Streetsblog ran a piece on our petition in support of ending parking minimums for new buildings near transit (AB 1401, Friedman). You can add your name to the petition here.

E-Bike Affordability Program on Chinese news:

Read past editions of the CalBike Insider.

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