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Tag Archive for: California legislature

CalBike’s 2023 Legislative Agenda

February 28, 2023/by Jared Sanchez

Last year was an excellent year for bike-friendly legislation in California, but 2023 is getting off to an even more exciting start, with a huge slate of bills that will make our streets safer for all Californians, regardless of their income level, race or ethnic background, or neighborhood. And we’re excited to have strong legislation to support our Invest/Divest Campaign.

Here’s a first look at the bills CalBike is supporting in 2023.

CalBike’s priority legislation

In 2023, there are even more great active transportation bills in the pipeline. We’ve broken them into tiers. The five bills below are CalBike’s must-pass legislation for 2023.

Build Community, Not Freeways

AB 7 (Friedman) California spends too much of its transportation budget on polluting, neighborhood-destroying freeway expansion projects. This bill eliminates single-occupancy vehicle freeway capacity projects. It’s a critical step toward divesting from climate-killing freeway building. California should use that money instead for green transportation infrastructure, including complete streets, separated bikeways, and better public transit.

Riding a Bike Is Not a Crime Slate

AB 825 (Bryan): Allows bicycle riding on a sidewalk adjacent to a street that does not include a Class I, Class II, or Class IV bikeway.

AB 93 (Bryan): Prohibits police officers from requesting consent to conduct a search if the officer does not suspect criminal activity.

SB 50 (Bradford): Prohibits police officers from stopping or detaining a pedestrian or bike rider for a low-level infraction.

AB 825 protects bike riders from traffic violence, allowing people on bikes to ride on sidewalks in areas where municipalities fail to provide safe bike facilities. Too often, police stops of people on bikes end in harassment or even violence, especially if the bike rider is Black or Latino. As an LA Times investigation showed last year, these stops do nothing to keep our communities safer, but they make it more dangerous for BIPOC folk to get around by bike. AB 93 and SB 50 prohibit police from stopping and searching a bike rider for minor infractions like riding without a light and allow California cities to move traffic enforcement from armed officers to the Department of Transportation or other street safety agencies. Taken together, this bicycle safety slate goes a long way toward creating the safe and equitable streets California needs, divesting from police and traffic violence and investing in policies that truly make our communities safe.

Two bills in our exciting Active Transportation Slate for 2023 also decriminalize bike riding and transit, making active transportation more accessible, especially for disadvantaged communities. AB 819 decriminalizes transit fare evasion, and AB 1266 would eliminate bench warrants for minor traffic infractions, including tickets to people on bikes, and keep them from escalating.

The Equity-First Transportation Funding Act

AB 1525 (Bonta) Historically, the majority of transportation dollars have gone to keep streets in wealthier areas in good repair, while investments in disadvantaged communities were more likely to be freeways that fractured neighborhoods and polluted the air. Disinvestment has made low-income communities more dangerous for people who bike, walk, or take public transit, cutting people off from economic opportunities because of a lack of access to transportation.  AB 1525 seeks to right this injustice by requiring that 60% of California’s transportation dollars go to projects in disadvantaged communities, investing in transportation justice.

2023 Active Transportation Slate

Last year, we supported a historic Active Transportation Slate, which saw 15 bills signed into law, including landmark legislation like the Freedom to Walk Act. In addition to our five high-priority bills, this year’s active transportation slate contains 14 excellent measures that we’ll be working to pass into law. 

AB 6 (Friedman): Regional Prioritization for Clean Transportation

We applaud Assemblymember Friedman for taking another pass at this crucial measure, which passed the legislature only to be vetoed by the governor in 2022. It requires regional transportation agencies to prioritize and fund projects that significantly contribute to regional and state climate goals, divesting from projects that contribute to GHG emissions and investing in transportation alternatives.

AB 73 (Boerner Horvath): Bike, Yield, Succeed

After two years of senseless rejections at the governor’s desk for a commonsense measure allowing people on bikes to treat stop signs as yields, this bill would establish a pilot program to test it in several cities. It’s a good step toward full legalization, though the safety of this law has been tested in the many other states that already allow the bicycle safety stop.

AB 413 (Lee): Daylighting to Save Lives

Too many people walking and biking are being killed on our streets, and intersections are one of the most dangerous spots. This bill will create greater visibility and reduce lethal collisions by prohibiting stopping, standing, or parking a vehicle within 20 feet of any unmarked or marked crosswalk.

AB 819 (Bryan): Decriminalize Transit Fare Evasion

In a perfect world, public transit would be fully publicly funded, and no one would have to pay to ride. Until we get there, this bill to decriminalize fare evasion by removing it as a misdemeanor classification is an excellent step in the right direction.

AB 1188 (Boerner Horvath): California Bike Smart Safety Handbook

What if a bicycle handbook with information on safe riding was available for free at the DMV and other public offices in California? Wouldn’t that be cool? This bill would make it happen.

AB 1266 (Kalra): No More Warrants for Infractions

When someone doesn’t appear for a traffic infraction, including bicyclists and pedestrians who get tickets, a judge can issue a bench warrant. If that person is later stopped (perhaps due to pretextual policing because of the color of their skin), they will have a warrant for their arrest and could be taken to jail. This measure eliminates bench warrants for minor traffic infractions, thereby eliminating a pipeline that has often kept people struggling to get by stuck in a cycle of jail time and poverty.

SB 695 (Gonzalez): Make Caltrans Freeway Data Public

One of the challenges transportation advocates face as we work to invest more in active transportation and divest from destructive freeway boondoggles is that it’s hard to pin down what money goes where in California’s complex transportation budget. This measure will help us re-route funding by providing information, requiring Caltrans to prepare and make available information and data about activities on the state highway system on a public data portal each year.

The active transportation slate also includes:

  • AB 251 (Ward): Deadly Oversized Cars
  • AB 361 (Ward): Cars Blocking Bike Lanes
  • AB 610 (Holden): Free Transit for Youth Pilot
  • AB 645 (Friedman): Automated Speed Enforcement Pilot
  • AB 761 (Friedman): Public Transit Transformation Task Force
  • AB 981 (Friedman): Highway Pilot Projects to Reduce Emissions
  • SB 712 (Portantino): Tenancy & Micromobility 

We’re also watching a number of bills that are still being written, including one or two we might oppose. Check our Legislative Watch page for a list of all the bills on CalBike’s radar this year, and watch your inbox for opportunities to join our campaigns to pass essential active transportation legislation.

https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/iStock-598565062_purchased-scaled.jpg 1707 2560 Jared Sanchez https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.png Jared Sanchez2023-02-28 17:40:472023-03-24 15:24:55CalBike’s 2023 Legislative Agenda

CalBike 2020 Agenda

December 6, 2019/by Kevin Claxton

At CalBike, we have spent the weeks since the end of the 2019 legislative session plotting our direction for 2020. Soon, we’ll begin to implement the CalBike 2020 agenda by meeting with stakeholders, planning campaigns, and finding legislators to author bills to create the policies necessary to achieve our strategic plan.

We will announce our 2020 agenda in person at an event in Sacramento on December 10. Our priorities for the coming year reflect our continued focus on making California communities more safe, livable, bikeable, and equitable. With help from CalBike members and supporters, we believe 2020 will be a year of big steps toward a truly bike-friendly California.

CalBike 2020 Initiatives

CalBike will pursue campaigns in 2020 to make the streets safer, get more people on e-bikes, and change the manuals that tell planners how to make space for bikes on California streets. We’re pursuing initiatives that are proven to make our communities safer and healthier. Here’s our plan for 2020.

Complete Streets

The governor’s veto of SB 127, the Complete Streets Bill, last year included the statement that he fully supports improving facilities to increase walking, biking, and public transit use. Newsom claimed he would hold Caltrans “accountable to deliver more alternatives to driving.” CalBike will make sure he follows through on that promise. In 2020, we’re hopeful that the new leadership at Caltrans will implement the goals of SB 127, and we plan to hold the department accountable for the safety of people who walk, bike, and take transit.

E-Bike Incentives

Nearly half a billion dollars of subsidies help Californians buy electric cars. This subsidy has brought the electric and plug-in hybrid cars registered in California to about 1% of the total California electric and hybrid fleet. Meanwhile, folks who can’t afford an electric car even with the subsidy, and everybody else who would love to have an electric bike to carry their kids to school or navigate a hilly commute get zero support. Many people who would happily get around on e-bikes are forced to rely on cars instead. CalBike proposes a $50 million pilot program to help more Californians buy electric bikes for transportation.

Design Manual Reform

Despite our success in allowing local jurisdictions to use alternatives to the official state Highway Design Manual, and the department’s promotion of flexibility, the manual itself still recommends very old-fashioned, car-oriented standards. The design manual encourages bike lanes to be placed in the door zone. At the same time, it discourages narrowing car lanes to accommodate wider bike lanes. We will work with Caltrans on an overdue update to this manual. Along with necessary changes to the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), this effort should help local planners and engineers design streets that prioritize safety instead of fast car traffic.

Driver’s Manual Improvements

The Department of Motor Vehicles’ official manual for motor vehicle operators does a terrible job of telling motorists to expect bike riders in the traffic lane. It even tells drivers that it’s OK to park in a bike lane! It doesn’t suggest that drivers use the “Dutch Reach” to open their doors. The “Dutch Reach” is a practice of using your right hand to open your door requiring you to twist your body so that you’re more able to see a bike rider approaching. We will work with the DMV to change the manual to teach car drivers to share the road with bicyclists more safely.

Vehicle Code Improvements

CalBike updated the Vehicle Code five years ago to require motorists to give three feet of clearance when passing someone on a bicycle. However, the Vehicle Code still includes some outdated information about biking. A CalBike priority in 2020 is to amend the Vehicle Code to bring it up to date. This will include clarification that someone on a bike is not required to ride as far to the right as practicable if the traffic lane is not wide enough to share. 

Change the Conversation on the Climate Crisis

In order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector fast enough, we must quickly reduce the number of car miles driven by Californians. Yet, too many people still advocate for spending billions of dollars to build new infrastructure that will only result in increased car traffic. In coalition with diverse organizations, CalBike hopes to illustrate how these auto-oriented projects hurt our communities, especially low-income communities and communities of color already suffering from disinvestment.  Car-centric projects hurt the planet, increasing greenhouse gas emissions when it’s imperative that we do the opposite. As a leader in the movement for safer streets and more biking, walking, and public transit, CalBike will continue to connect the dots for our decisionmakers between how humans move around and how we protect the future for all living things.

More 2020 Priorities 

In addition to leading on the issues above, CalBike and our allies will work together on several other issues, not to mention additional challenges and opportunities that we can’t predict.

  • Automated Speed Enforcement
  • Changing how speed limits are set to make it easier to lower speed limits
  • Encouraging more housing, especially affordable housing, in walkable, bikeable neighborhoods
  • Improving bike parking requirements statewide
  • Student transit passes
  • Statewide goals to reduce vehicle miles traveled

We know that this is an ambitious agenda, but we also know that every item on it is important. Together, they add up to a better biking in California. With your help, we can get there.

https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Relax.jpg 628 1200 Kevin Claxton https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.png Kevin Claxton2019-12-06 16:07:332019-12-11 14:05:01CalBike 2020 Agenda

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