For Immediate Release: June 25, 2012
Contact:
CalBike: Jared Sanchez, jared@calbike.org | 714-262-0921
California Walks: Caro Jauregui, caro@calwalks.org | 562-320-2139
Los Angeles Walks: John Yi, john@losangeleswalks.org | 213-219-2483
SACRAMENTO – The Freedom to Walk Act, a bill to eliminate jaywalking laws in California, will be heard on Tuesday, 6/29/21 in the California Senate Transportation Committee.
AB 1238 will make it legal for pedestrians in California to cross mid-block and against traffic lights, provided they don’t interfere with traffic. The bill is authored by Assemblymember Phil Ting of San Francisco. CalBike and a coalition of more than 85 groups and individuals support the repeal of jaywalking laws.
“The incredible rate at which pedestrians are dying from crashes should compel us to understand why fellow Californians navigate as such, not criminalize them. This is just the first of many steps in our fight to provide all those who walk and roll with a little more dignity,” shared John Yi, Executive Director of Los Angeles Walks.
Jared Sanchez, CalBike Senior Policy Advocate said, “Jaywalking citations are disproportionately issued to Black Californians – they are up to 4.3 times more likely to be stopped than their White counterparts. Decriminalizing jaywalking will remove an opportunity for biased policing, and get rid of an unjust burden on low-income California residents, who can least afford to pay the fines and who are more likely to live in neighborhoods that lack infrastructure for people who walk, making jaywalking unavoidable.”
“Creating safe public spaces by changing policies that have disregarded the safety, existence, and joy of primarily low-income people of color across the state is overdue. This bill will begin to do that by ensuring that people forced to ‘jaywalk’ are not punished due to the decades of intentional poor infrastructure in their neighborhoods,” said Caro Jauregui, Co-Executive Director of California Walks.
CalBike, California Walks, Los Angeles Walks, and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area are sponsoring the Freedom to Walk Act, which has strong support from a broad base of community organizations. Supporters include the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, Community Legal Services of East Palo Alto, Asian Pacific Islander Forward Movement, and Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice. Several city officials have expressed their support for decriminalizing jaywalking, including the Emeryville City Council.
AB1238 was passed by the California State Assembly with a floor vote of 58-16 on June 2, 2021.
The many bike-friendly bills CalBike is tracking and the one bad bill we are opposing are moving through the Senate after passing the Assembly. Several of them have hearings in the next two weeks. CalBike is reaching out strategically to our members who have legislators on key Senate Committees: Transportation, and Judiciary. If you are one of those people, your call or email to your State Senator could make the difference in making California more bikeable, our streets safer for all users, and future generations safer from the climate crisis.
If your senator isn’t on one of those committees, we’ll be sure to tell you when the issue is up for a floor vote and it’s time for you to reach out.
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Here’s your guide to emailing and calling to help push bike-friendly bills forward.
This bill would impose burdensome and unprecedented insurance requirements on bike-share and scooter-share operators. CalBike would like to see bike and scooter sharing become elements of public transportation systems, operated by transit authorities and priced like other forms of transit. AB 371 would take California in the opposite direction. If it passes, no shared mobility systems, public or private, will be able to operate in our state.
Status:
In the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Hearing Date:
TBD (postponed from 6/22)
Take Action:
Also known as the Idaho stop, the bicycle safety stop allows people on bikes to treat stop signs as yields. The safety stop has been proven to reduce collisions involving bicyclists in states that have adopted it. AB 122 (Boerner Horvath) easily passed the Assembly, but it’s meeting more opposition in the Senate.
Status:
In Senate Transportation Committee
Hearing Date:
Tuesday, 6/29/21
Take Action:
The Freedom to Walk Act would repeal California’s unjust jaywalking laws. These laws shift blame for unsafe driving from car drivers to walkers, are unfairly enforced against Black Californians, and initiate potentially deadly police interactions. AB 1238 (Ting) is an essential step toward safer streets for all.
Status:
In Senate Transportation Committee
Hearing Date:
Tuesday, 6/29/21
Take Action:
CalBike’s E-Bike Affordability Program would help 10,000 low-income Californians buy the cleanest electric vehicle: an electric bike. AB 117 (Boerner Horvath) creates the program, and the budget process will provide the funding to make it happen.
Status:
In Senate Transportation Committee and ongoing budget negotiations
Hearing Date:
Thursday, 6/24/21
Take Action:
This visionary bill would pave the way for 15-minute neighborhoods and bicycle freeways. AB 1147 (Friedman) will incentivize the kinds of changes California needs to make our communities more livable and climate-resilient.
Status:
In Senate Environmental Quality Committee and ongoing budget negotiations
Hearing Date:
Thursday, 7/1/21
Take Action:
AB 43 (Friedman): Changes the 85 percentile rule to allow communities to set lower speed limits
Status:
In Senate Transportation Committee
Hearing Date:
Tuesday, 7/13/21
AB 1401 (Friedman): Ends mandated parking minimums for new buildings near transit, moving California away from the car dependency that’s driving the climate crisis.
Status:
In Senate Governance and Finance Committee
Hearing Date:
Not yet set
Take Action:
Senate Transportation Committee members:
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Check out CalBike’s Legislative Watch page for an update on all the bills we’re working on.
May 31, 2021
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Sacramento – The Freedom to Walk Act, a bill to eliminate jaywalking laws in California, will be up for a vote on the Assembly floor this week. Authored by Assemblymember Phil Ting of San Francisco, AB 1238 will make it legal for pedestrians in California to make mid-block crossings and cross against traffic lights, provided they don’t interfere with traffic.
“The Freedom to Walk Act is a necessary step to right historic injustices,” said Jared Sanchez, CalBike Senior Policy Advocate. Jaywalking citations are disproportionately issued to Black Californians – they are up to 4.3 times more likely to be stopped than their white counterparts. CalBike is a leader among a coalition of more than 85 groups and individuals who support the repeal of jaywalking laws.
“Decriminalizing jaywalking will remove an opportunity for biased policing, and get rid of an unjust burden from low-income California residents, who can least afford to pay the fines and who are more likely to live in neighborhoods that lack infrastructure for people who walk, making jaywalking unavoidable,” Sanchez said.
“The incredible rate at which pedestrians are dying from crashes should compel us to understand why fellow Californians navigate as such, not criminalize them. This is just the first of many steps in our fight to provide all those who walk and roll with a little more dignity. We look forward to the work ahead,” shared John Yi, Executive Director of Los Angeles Walks.
“We must correct historical wrongs. We hope our legislators commit to creating safe public spaces by changing policies that have disregarded the safety, existence, and joy of primarily low-income people of color across the state. This bill will begin to do that by ensuring that people forced to ‘jaywalk’ are not punished due to the decades of intentional poor infrastructure in their neighborhoods,” said Caro Jauregui, Co-Executive Director of California Walks.
CalBike, California Walks, and Los Angeles Walks are sponsoring the Freedom to Walk Act, which has strong support from a broad base of community organizations. Supporters include the Greenlining Institute, NACTO, ACLU California Action, and Disability Rights California.
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On May 3, 2021, CalBike co-hosted a national panel discussion on decriminalizing jaywalking. Leading academics, advocates, and legislators discussed local efforts to end the enforcement of jaywalking. They shared lessons learned and steps to success.
CalBike has joined a surging national movement to repeal unjust jaywalking laws by co-sponsoring the Freedom to Walk Act (AB 1238, Ting). More and more cities and states are rethinking rules that criminalize walking. From Virginia to California to Kansas City, decriminalizing jaywalking is no longer a radical idea but an increasingly viable policy proposal.
The discussion included:
You can watch the full presentation here:
These national efforts highlight the need to protect vulnerable pedestrians against racially biased, pretextual policing, inequitable fees and fines, and unnecessary and potentially lethal interactions with law enforcement. More and more cities, counties, and states are considering repealing jaywalking laws. And the movement to ensure that safe and accessible walking is a key component of a sustainable transportation system continues to grow stronger.
Since our national discussion, Kansas City, MO, became the first city in the country to repeal its jaywalking laws. This repeal followed strong efforts from BikeWalkKC. We hope that CalBike’s campaign will make California the first state to decriminalize jaywalking statewide.
Eliminating jaywalking laws is an important step towards a more just society. Protests following George Floyd’s murder by a police officer led to a movement to re-examine the role of policing in our communities. As part of this reflection, jurisdictions began to look at discriminatory enforcement of jaywalking laws. Examination of jaywalking citations in Kansas City clearly showed that Black pedestrians were disproportionately targeted. The City Council’s repeal removes a tool for biased policing.
CalBike is committed to reforming traffic laws to reduce inequities and racially biased policing. Eliminating laws against jaywalking is an essential step toward this goal. By co-sponsoring the Freedom to Walk Act, we hope to end the enforcement of unjust jaywalking laws in California. At the same time, this will facilitate healthy and safe travel modes that are necessary to meet California’s environmental goals.
On May 3, 2021, at 1:00 pm Pacific time, CalBike will join our cosponsors of the Freedom to Walk Act (AB 1238, Ting) and leading experts on pedestrian safety to host a national panel discussion on decriminalizing jaywalking.
The discussion will be held on Zoom and all are welcome to attend. The event is free but preregistration is required.
CalBike is committed to reforming traffic laws to reduce inequities and racially biased policing. Eliminating laws against jaywalking is an essential step toward this goal. By co-sponsoring the Freedom to Walk Act, we hope to decriminalize jaywalking in California. But this movement should be national, so we created a webinar to connect people working on this issue from across the country.
The panel discussion will be moderated by Dr. Charles Brown of Equitable Cities and John Yi from Los Angeles Walks, a co-sponsor of AB 1238. The panelists are Angie Schmitt, Author of “Right of Way,” Caro Jauregui from California Walks (also a co-sponsor of AB 1238), Patrick Hope, a delegate in the Virginia House of Delegates, and Michael Kelley from Bike Walk Kansas City. Jared Sanchez from CalBike will introduce the session. Additional hosts are 3MPH Planning + Consulting and Arrested Mobility.
We look forward to this opportunity to build a national movement to decriminalize jaywalking. We hope you will join us.
April 26, 2021
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Sacramento – The California Assembly Transportation Committee voted 12-2 to support AB 1238, the Freedom to Walk Act. This measure will eliminate jaywalking laws, making it legal for pedestrians to make mid-block crossings and cross against traffic lights.
The Freedom to Walk Act, sponsored by Assemblymember Phil Ting, is a necessary step to right historic injustices. Jaywalking citations are disproportionately issued to Black Californians, and policing these infractions provides an opportunity for biased and pretextual policing. Decriminalizing jaywalking will remove an unjust burden from low-income Californians, who can least afford to pay the fines. Low-income residents are also more likely to live in neighborhoods that lack infrastructure for people who walk, making jaywalking unavoidable.
‘’We applaud the Assembly Transportation Committee for advancing this important bill,” said Jared Sanchez, CalBike Senior Policy Advocate. “Their strong support is a sign that California is ready to leave these regressive and oppressive laws in the dustbin of history, where they belong.”
“The incredible rate at which pedestrians are dying from crashes should compel us to understand why fellow Californians navigate as such, not criminalize them. This is just the first of many steps in our fight to provide all those who walk and roll with a little more dignity. We look forward to the work ahead,” shared John Yi, Executive Director of Los Angeles Walks.
“The decriminalization of “jaywalking” is the first step in ensuring a culture of belonging on our streets for all road users. We will continue to work towards ending the current dangerous car culture across the state that is accepted as the norm and prioritizes drivers, “ said Caro Jauregui, Co-Executive Director of California Walks.
CalBike, California Walks, and Los Angeles Walks are sponsoring the Freedom to Walk Act, which has strong support from a broad base of community organizations. To date, more than 85 groups and individuals have signed on to a letter supporting AB 1238. Supporters include the Ella Baker Center, Courage California, Disability Rights California, and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights. Elected leaders supporting the measure include Berkeley City Councilmember Rigel Robinson, Albany Mayor Ge’Nell Gary, and Albany Vice Mayor, Preston Jordan.
On May 3, CalBike will join Los Angeles Walks and California Walks to host a national discussion on decriminalizing jaywalking. All are welcome to attend.
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