This piece first appeared in Streetsblog California.
Representatives from the State of California are in Dubai, United Arab Emirates right now for COP28, the climate summit where world leaders make agreements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Our state is promoting itself as a climate leader, and in some respects, that’s accurate. But California can’t claim the mantle of responsible climate stewardship while it continues to build freeways that increase emissions and pollute vulnerable communities.
California’s delegation of high-level state officials discusses wind energy and EVs at COP28; back in California, Fresno residents have had to sue Caltrans for failing to disclose the carbon impact of two new freeway interchanges that will contribute to a significant increase in truck traffic.
While Caltrans spends billions each year repairing and mitigating the damage done by extreme weather caused by climate change, it continues to create the conditions for more harmful emissions. A planned freeway expansion in Yolo County, between Sacramento and Davis, may involve improper environmental review and misuse of state roadway repair funds. The controversy led to the firing of Caltrans deputy director for planning and modal programs Jeanie Ward-Waller, who planned to blow the whistle on the alleged malfeasance.
The Yolo Causeway project is supposedly designed to decrease congestion, but it’s old news that adding roadway capacity induces demand, resulting in more vehicle miles traveled and often more congestion. Calltrans understands induced demand–it even has information on its website–yet it continues to implement projects that will increase VMT without reducing congestion.
Caltrans should be inducing demand for active transportation by building protected bikeways with protected intersections that connect to robust local and regional networks of safe bike routes. It should be adding bus-only lanes and bus boarding islands, widening sidewalks, and improving conditions for people who walk or take transit.
But California doesn’t have to be defined by its car-centric past. If we are to build a new image as a climate leader, we must move beyond the fragmented, speed-addled landscape dictated by subservience to the motor vehicle. We need to be leaders in mode shift, in 15-minute neighborhoods, in reducing pollution and deaths from traffic, in enhancing existing transit networks and building new ones.
A prerequisite to making these changes is radical change at Caltrans. We can’t let a benighted agency drag us into the past. Only by ending our state’s love affair with road building will we be able to realize the climate-friendly future Californians want and need. CalBike is focusing much of our energy on measures to make these changes a reality. We hope you’ll join us.
https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Freeway-pexels.jpg281500Kendra Ramseyhttps://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.pngKendra Ramsey2023-12-08 14:55:492023-12-08 14:55:50California Can’t Be a Climate Leader Until it Stops Building Freeways
More than 100 people attended CalBike’s first Summit Advance Session on November 29, 2023. The webinar featured a panel of advocates and planners from San Diego, where the in-person California Bicycle Summit will be held on April 18-19, 2024.
The Summit will be jam-packed with panels and keynotes, advancing the latest thinking on active transportation advocacy and planning. The webinar highlighted another reason to go to San Diego: a chance to tour the city’s growing miles of separated bikeways.
The session included advocacy strategies from Chloé Lauer, San Diego County Bicycle Coalition executive director, and Anar Salayev, executive director of BikeSD. Josh Clark, a senior regional planner for the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), detailed the agency’s progress in building 77 miles of bikeways and dramatic increases in ridership after the opening of protected and separated bikeways.
The COO and CDO of Circulate San Diego, Jeremy Bloom, talked about strategies to advance Vision Zero, including identifying the Fatal 15: the most dangerous intersections in the city. Everett Hauser, the City of San Diego Transportation Department’s bicycle program manager, outlined improvements, especially since the Summit was last held in San Diego in 2015. Randy Torres-Van Vleck, CEO of Tocayo Engagement and organizer of Los Cruzadores, spoke about San Diego’s role as a crossroads between the U.S. and Mexico and his hopes to organize a repeat of a 2015 cross-border ride for April’s Summit attendees.
https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/San-Diego-River-Bikeway.jpg540960Kevin Claxtonhttps://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.pngKevin Claxton2023-11-30 12:32:042023-11-30 12:37:19California Bicycle Summit Advance Session Generates Excitement About San Diego Bikeways
In October, Micromobility America brought a two-day conference and trade show of alternative transportation to Richmond, California. Exhibitors included manufacturers of a range of e-bikes and scooters, app developers, and even representatives from the U.S. Department of Transportation. CalBike participated in one of the many panel discussions, and you can view the recording below.
Our panel was titled How Cities Can Incentivize Electric Bikes and was expertly moderated by Colin Hughes. The panelists were:
Heather House, a manager at the Rocky Mountain Institute, which has developed a tool for cities to measure the impact of e-bikes on reducing greenhouse gas emissions
Kerby Olson, new mobility supervisor at OakDOT, which is preparing to introduce a local e-bike program
Brett Wiley, senior program associate at East Bay Community Energy (since renamed Ava Community Energy, providing green energy in the San Joaquin Valley as well as the East Bay), which is planning an ambitious e-bike incentive program for its customers
Laura McCamy, communication specialist and e-bike advocate for CalBike.
The discussion was fast-paced and fascinating. Our ears perked up at the plans for impactful e-bike programs coming to the East Bay — look for more information about that in the future.
CalBike will hold its next biennial California Bicycle Summit in San Diego on April 18 to 19, 2024. The Summit is an inspiring gathering of advocates, planners, transportation agency staffers, and elected officials who care about creating a more bikeable, walkable California. Sessions will include presentations and workshops from some of the most influential thought leaders in active transportation and transportation justice, leading discussions on how we transition to a more just, sustainable transportation system. And no Summit would be complete without bike tours, networking opportunities, movie screenings, and more.
A crossroads for climate and livability
This is a crucial time for the active transportation movement. As the pace of climate change accelerates and damage from severe weather accumulates, our window to decarbonize our transportation system shrinks. Our Summit theme for 2024 is Crossroads, because our state and our society stand at a crossroads.
We can choose the path of adaptation and mitigation, or keep building freeways as the planet heats. We can walk toward more just and sustainable systems for bringing safety to our streets, or we can continue down the path that leaves many Californians unsafe when they bike and walk. As we gather together at the Summit, we’ll strategize how to move California toward a more equitable and sustainable future.
2024 Summit Advance Session: Success Stories from San Diego
In the months leading up to the 2024 California Bicycle Summit, we will host a series of free online webinars to preview topics to be discussed at the in-person event. The first webinar focuses on our host city and the challenges that advocates and local agencies have overcome to win some important victories. These success stories will offer suggestions for accelerating change in your community.
CalBike has been fighting for Complete Streets for more than 15 years. In 2008, we helped pass AB 1358, which required local and regional general plans to consider the safety of people biking and walking in their circulation elements. But that law did nothing to improve access on state routes that doubled as local streets, which are often the most dangerous roadways in a community. So we took the fight to Caltrans.
Over the years, our work to promote Complete Streets on state-controlled roads has been both rewarding and frustrating. Our campaign has scored some critical wins and heartbreaking losses. Recent events have made it clear that Caltrans continues to push transportation funding toward projects that increase traffic and congestion and underfund Complete Streets improvements.
Complete Streets will be a central part of CalBike’s legislative agenda in 2024. So, we thought this would be a good time to revisit the history, evolution, and future of Complete Streets.
What are Complete Streets?
A Complete Street includes elements that make travel safer for people using all modes, including biking, walking, public transit, and automobiles. Complete Streets elements can include:
Bulbouts to reduce crossing distance for pedestrians
Crosswalks at frequent intervals, including mid-block crossings, if needed
Protected bike lanes
Protected intersections
Bus-only lanes
Bus boarding islands
Narrow traffic lanes, speed humps, chicanes, or other features to reduce driving speeds.
In addition, we must expand the definition of a Complete Street to one where people of all identities and bodies are safe from police harassment. Strategies to accomplish this include decriminalizing biking, walking, and transit use.
Unfortunately, the term Complete Streets has been used at the state level to refer to any element of a project that benefits people biking or walking, including legal requirements such as ADA improvements, rather than the comprehensive vision that Complete Streets is supposed to embody. So, rather than evaluating whether a segment of a state-controlled street can receive all the upgrades needed to make it safe to bike, walk, and board transit, a Caltrans project might include one or a few elements that fall under the heading of “Complete Streets.”
While this approach can improve safety incrementally, it might not make the roadway comfortable or appealing for people biking or walking. It’s analogous to building a bridge halfway across a shark-infested waterway. Is half a bridge better than nothing if it doesn’t get you where you need to go? And, in the worst cases, piecemeal safety improvements can lure people biking or walking into danger. For example, a bikeway that ends abruptly or includes hazardous intersections may encourage people to ride, only to find themselves dumped into dangerous traffic.
Past Complete Streets legislation
In 2017, Senator Scott Wiener introduced SB 760, which would have created a Division of Active Transportation within Caltrans and required the agency to add Complete Streets elements to state routes that were also local streets.
SB 760 didn’t make it into law, but Wiener authored another bill in 2019, SB 127, the Complete Streets Bill. This new bill didn’t create a separate division at Caltrans, but it required the agency to consider adding Complete Streets elements whenever it planned a repaving project. CalBike and our allies and supporters campaigned hard for the Complete Streets Bill and got it through the legislature with high hopes the governor would sign it.
But Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed the Complete Streets bill, saying it was unnecessary because Caltrans already had a Complete Streets policy and didn’t need legislation to build Complete Streets. Four years after that veto, CalBike is surveying people around California and reviewing Caltrans records to learn whether the governor was right.
Caltrans progress on Complete Streets
At the time Governor Newsom vetoed the Complete Streets Bill, Caltrans had a new leader, Toks Omishakin, who took Complete Streets seriously, overseeing a $100 million set aside in the State Highway Operation and Protection Program (SHOPP) budget for Complete Streets elements.
In 2021, Caltrans significantly improved its internal Complete Streets policy (DP-37). Specifically, it directed that “all transportation projects funded or overseen by Caltrans will provide comfortable, convenient, and connected complete streets facilities for people walking, biking, and taking transit or passenger rail unless an exception is documented and approved.” However, without codifying this internal policy into state law, the improvement is divorced from any real accountability.
In 2022, the agency developed two implementation tools to honor its ambitious changes. Caltrans District-wide Active Transportation Plans (CAT Plans) chartered the course for district change, while headquarters released its Complete Streets Action Plan to track its progress.
Out of these efforts, Caltrans implemented a Complete Streets review process for its projects to evaluate whether a road segment includes people biking and walking and, if it does, what Complete Streets improvements could be included in the project. However, this process lacks one thing the Complete Streets Bill would have mandated: transparency. The bill would have required Caltrans to justify its decision when it didn’t include Complete Streets features and to hold a public hearing. Instead, Caltrans buries its process in long and complex documents that aren’t publicly available.
What’s next for Complete Streets
CalBike made a public records request and has received several hundred Caltrans planning documents that include Complete Streets decision forms. We’re reviewing them to understand the trends at the agency and whether it’s acting in the best interests of the citizens of California to make active transportation safer and more accessible. We also conducted a statewide survey to get feedback on the safety of state routes from people who bike and walk on them. We expect to share our data over the next few months as part of a renewed Complete Streets Campaign.
We are also working with legislative champions and our allies to introduce real mandates and accountability. We appreciate our elected leaders who continue to prioritize making our fastest roadways safe for people who get around by bike or on foot.
Caltrans was originally the Department of Highways, and changing the culture of freeway-building that’s ingrained at the agency is not quick or easy. It is, however, imperative. Recently, scientists warned that we have just six years before the Earth reaches the 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming considered to be the threshold we shouldn’t pass.
We must change our transportation patterns now if we’re serious about combating climate change. And that means changing California’s department of highways, freeway-building, smog creation, and traffic inducement into the department of low- and no-carbon transportation, active mobility, public transportation, connection, health, and joy. At CalBike, we’re pushing hard to make that transition a reality.
https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/protected-bikeways-act.jpg6841024Jared Sanchezhttps://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.pngJared Sanchez2023-11-07 17:02:512023-11-07 17:02:53The Long Road to Complete Streets
The Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure (CAPTI) is meant to help decarbonize California’s transportation systems, which are responsible for half the state’s greenhouse gas emissions. But bills from Assemblymember Laura Friedman meant to give teeth to CAPTI have failed, and California continues to devote the bulk of its transportation budget to projects that encourage car travel. As we evaluate the second draft of the CAPTI Annual Progress Report, it’s time to take a hard look at the effectiveness of California’s climate initiatives around transportation and what more is needed.
Transportation funding doesn’t match climate goals
Governor Gavin Newsom sought to address climate-killing transportation emissions in 2019 with Executive Order N-19-19 and the successive development of CAPTI in 2021. This year’s draft report was just released for public comment, and it depicts California quickly making progress toward aligning state transportation funding with our ambitious climate goals.
However, the scale of progress the report documents, while better than nothing, doesn’t match the urgency of our climate crisis. We need a wholesale pivot to clean transportation centered on making biking, walking, and public transit appealing and accessible, yet the bulk of California’s green transportation spending is directed at EVs and charging infrastructure.
California invests far too little in active transportation and is missing a key opportunity to transform our state highways into Complete Streets. State transportation leaders continue to ignore the substantial investments in new types of infrastructure needed if we’re serious about a multimodal transportation system with mobility choices that reverse our climate impact. Complete Streets everywhere are a prerequisite for Californians to move away from our automobile dependency.
What a truly climate-friendly transportation budget would look like
CAPTI is a planning document that, according to the cabinet-level California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA), attempts to “identify near-term actions, and investment strategies, to improve clean transportation, sustainable freight and transit options, while continuing a ‘fix-it-first’ approach to our transportation system.” In even more limited scope, “under CAPTI, where feasible and within existing funding program structures, the state will invest discretionary transportation funds in sustainable infrastructure projects that align with its climate, health and social equity goals.”
What CAPTI does not do but should if we’re serious about reducing climate impacts, is analyze the $22 billion state transportation budget. Far too many of those dollars are spent on projects and programs that increase vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG).
Two recent reports from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and NextGen Policy make it clear that California continues to prioritize outmoded transportation investments such as freeway expansion projects. According to NRDC’s calculations, “California only allocates 18.6% of transportation funds to low-carbon mobility choices.”
Just last week, leaders from the California Transportation Commission, the Air Resources Board, and the Department of Housing and Community Development met to discuss the ongoing implementation of CAPTI but didn’t offer a substantive critique of California’s continuing policies that clearly exacerbate the climate crisis. Despite the dozens of public comments asking for an immediate freeway expansion moratorium, our state leaders were silent.
$10 Billion for Complete Streets
CAPTI is not robust or comprehensive enough to align our transportation investments with our climate goals. We are well past the time when “better than nothing” is sufficient to tackle global warming. In fact, narrow planning documents like CAPTI are harmful because they narrow our decision-makers’ focus while allowing them the illusion of taking transformative action.
Last year, CalBike asked lawmakers to devote half of the state’s transportation dollars, about $10 billion, to active transportation. That money could fund not just more connected bikeways, but safer intersections, sidewalk improvements, and more frequent and reliable transit—all the things we need to change direction and keep from driving over a climate cliff.
The projects are out there, and communities want to build Complete Streets. The Active Transportation Program has a growing backlog of excellent projects for which there isn’t enough funding. We will advocate, once again, for $10 Billion for Complete Streets in the 2024 budget and programs to incentivize and fund the infrastructure we need to move in a warming world.
https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Climate-Ride-California-2018_Slideshow-161-scaled.jpeg17072560Jared Sanchezhttps://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.pngJared Sanchez2023-11-06 16:31:422023-11-07 12:19:48CAPTI Falls Short of Climate Promise
For more than a year, the emails, social media posts, and calls have come in to CalBike, the California Air Resources Board, and the administrator of the statewide E-Bike Incentives Program, Pedal Ahead. People with disabilities, without housing, or without other transportation options have reached out to learn about getting an e-bike incentive.
It has taken longer than expected to launch this much-anticipated program. And while the program is moving closer to launch, we aren’t privy to specific timelines right now. In the meantime, we wanted to highlight stories from some of the people we’ve had contact with about e-bike incentives.
The EBIP program will help people with lower incomes purchase an e-bike. These people might include daycare providers, folks working in restaurants, or other hardworking members of our communities. And many others can benefit from this program, like people with disabilities, older adults, and people experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity.
In this installment of our #ebikestories series, we share (anonymously) some of the stories we’ve heard from people for whom an e-bike voucher could be a life-changing benefit.
Moving through disability
There’s been a lot of hand-wringing about the “danger” of teens riding e-bikes, but the populations that may have the most to gain from an electric boost are older adults and people with disabilities.
Posts from CalBike’s Facebook page, lightly edited.
I am a low-income senior/live in the mountains and miss riding bicycles for good exercise. The grades here kill me on a regular bike…bum knees/2 lower discs toast. If i have to ride hard uphills, the sciatica kicks in and I end up in bed with intense pain.
Kicked my car to the curb yrs ago. I’m 70 & love riding my bike for exercise & errands. Unfortunately, I just developed a health issue that affects my pedaling capabilities. This would be a well-needed gift for me to continue being an environmentally concerned citizen of planet Earth. However…sounds too good to be true.
I’ve had 10 major spine surgeries, including 4 fusions, and I have a widespread degenerative nerve disease. I bought an e-bike in January to get to work and use my car less and almost have 2000 miles on it. It wouldn’t be possible for me to do that if I had to rely on my body completely with a regular bike. I bump the power level down, so I use my own power more, and I’ve definitely seen improvement in my physical condition. So, while some of y’all poo poo the e-bikes, keep in mind that not everyone can ride a regular bike like you suggest.
In #ebikestories 2, we shared more stories of people using e-bikes to keep riding through age and disability.
Mobility is a lifeline
The most heart-wrenching calls and emails we’ve received have been from people contending with a variety of life traumas and lacking adequate housing and transportation. As people navigate complex bureaucracies to receive aid, find work, and find housing, the low-cost, efficient mobility provided by an e-bike is a life-changing asset.
We’ve heard from a disabled woman fleeing abuse and living in her car, which stopped running. She is hoping to get an e-bike to get to appointments to get medical care and find housing.
A man contacted us about his wife, who has MS. He also has a disability, and they would love to have e-bikes for transportation while they wait for Section 8 housing to come through.
We even heard from someone in Mississippi. He and his buddy, both unhoused, would have more opportunities to earn if they could get around by e-bike.
The transformative power of e-bikes might be most profound in the lives of those least able to afford one. That’s why programs like California’s E-Bike Incentive Project and local, needs-based incentives are essential. E-bikes aren’t just an environmentally responsible way to get around; they are crucial transportation for many people left behind by our current transportation systems.
https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/poppies-and-bikes.jpeg480640Laura McCamyhttps://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.pngLaura McCamy2023-11-06 15:35:432023-11-06 16:34:33#ebikestories 7: Who Will Benefit from California’s E-Bike Incentives?
CalBike, along with over 100 climate, mobility, and transportation justice nonprofits, signed a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom requesting greater oversight of Caltrans. The letter, spearheaded by NextGen California, made three specific requests:
An external audit of the State Highway Operation and Protection Program (SHOPP) to ensure that funds aren’t being illegally used to widen roads.
A third-party investigation of allegations by former Caltrans Deputy Director Jeanie Ward-Waller. Specifically, Ward-Waller said Caltrans District 3 is widening a freeway in what was supposed to be a repaving project. The letter requests an investigation of all Caltrans districts to ensure none are using funds for unauthorized road expansion.
A moratorium on all road and interchange expansions until the investigations are completed.
Scroll down to read the full letter and add your name.
Transportation is a critical element of climate mitigation
The transportation sector is the biggest contributor to California’s greenhouse gas emissions, so reducing vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and investing in low- and no-carbon transportation are essential. In 2021, California adopted the Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure (CAPTI). CAPTI calls for “investing billions of discretionary transportation dollars annually to aggressively combat and adapt to climate change while supporting public health, safety and equity.”
Yet Caltrans continues to build and widen freeways guaranteed to induce greater VMT. As Ward-Waller’s firing showed, the agency includes staffers, and perhaps whole districts, determined to stick to the old mission of moving high volumes of motor vehicles, with little regard for the safety of people not in cars or the environment.
This year, CalBike urged legislators to allocate half of California’s state transportation budget, about $10 billion, on active transportation: biking, walking, and public transit. Those uses require less asphalt, have much smaller carbon footprints, and promote the health and vibrancy of whole neighborhoods.
In 2024, we will continue our Invest/Divest campaign to invest in clean, green mobility options and divest from climate-killing and inequitable freeways. As the past few years of extreme weather have made extremely clear, California can’t afford old ways of thinking about transportation. We need radical transformation of our transportation systems, and we need to make it happen quickly.
At CalBike, we believe a future filled with safe and convenient low- and no-carbon transportation is possible. We will never stop working for it.
You can support this effort by adding your name to the letter in the form below.
All images from Reimagine: Biking While Black. Artwork by Otis Design Lab. Used with permission.
The first thing that hits you when you leaf through Reimagine: Biking While Black | A Roadmap to Justice and Joy, a guide created to accompany two Biking While Black short movies, is the joy. From the colorful design to the inspiring interviews with bike advocates to the extensive list of resources, the guide radiates positivity and possibility. But it doesn’t shy away from hard truths and serious topics, including the disproportionate rate at which Black Angelenos are killed by traffic violence and survey data showing the personal impact of our unequal streets. It’s an essential guide for advocates in search of inspiration and information.
We spoke with Yolanda Davis-Overstreet, a mobility justice strategist and member of CalBike’s Board of Directors, who directed and co-produced the Biking While Black films and developed the new guide. We spoke with her about the impact of the films, what she hopes the guide will accomplish, and the need to pay BIPOC advocates for the critical work they do.
Biking While Black guide builds the movement
CalBike screened the first Biking While Black movie at our 2022 California Bicycle Summit to an enthusiastic audience. The second movie expands on the first, and the new Reimagine guidebook offers another tool for advocates.
Davis-Overstreet says the films have brought people together. “The power of the film is we’ve created a platform for narrative sharing,” she says. She calls the new guide a “Green Book on steroids,” saying, “I hope people will be able to see themselves in this guide.”
She hopes the guide will affirm for people that what feels like injustice is injustice and help people believe in themselves.
“I think a lot of us are looking for things to do and things to be involved in,” Davis-Overstreet says, and the guidebook widens the range of what’s possible. The guide includes data and statistics, a glossary, and a survey of people’s experiences of biking while Black. It’s also got practical information in an easy-to-digest format, like the ABC bike check before you ride and a “Know Your Rights” page that walks through what to do if stopped by the police. It also includes an extensive list of biking and social justice events and organizations, laying out options for those who want to get more involved.
Reimagining advocacy
“It’s a play on words because the meaning is so much deeper,” Davis-Overstreet says of the “Reimagine” in the title of the guide. She sees it as “new ways of imagining Black and Brown lives” and “the importance of joy as opposed to trauma.”
The Biking While Black movement embodies a reimagination of people’s roles in their communities and creates a roadmap to tap into and remove threats to Black mobility in America, including police violence. “It’s a civil rights movement,” she says. “We’re educating the people in our committees and our youth because we don’t adequately educate kids in school on this topic.”
The goal is to improve parts of our communities that have been disenfranchised for decades. Lifting those areas up will lift whole communities and whole cities.
How to sustain the people who power the transportation justice movement
“The work is becoming more sustainable,” Davis-Overstreet says, but there’s still more the bike advocacy movement and transportation departments can do to pay BIPOC advocates for their time and efforts rather than expecting them to do free emotional labor.
Hiring more Black advocates, engineers, and planners is a form of reparation. Davis-Overstreet calls it “restorative justice work to acknowledge BIPOC livelihoods,” saying, “We are literally working and uplifting to sustain communities.”
The Reimagine guide ends with suggested resources to read and watch, including wellness apps and the book “Rest Is Resistance.” She notes that rest and self-care are essential to finding joy, something overworked advocates sometimes need to be reminded of.
The next step for Davis-Overstreet is potentially creating a curriculum for schools from middle school through college. She has experienced the transformative power of events like the bike clinic she created for her daughter’s school, which turned the principal into an advocate and helped students see new ways to get around their neighborhood and have agency in their mobility.
https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Photo-BWB-guide.jpg338833Laura McCamyhttps://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.pngLaura McCamy2023-10-24 15:55:082023-10-25 18:07:16Biking While Black Guide Delivers Joyful Inspiration
Of the bills CalBike supported that made it to the governor’s desk, six were signed into law, and two were vetoed. Several active transportation measures were put on hold before the end of the legislative session, becoming two-year bills, and some didn’t make it out of legislative committees.
Overall, it was not a good year for decriminalization measures that sought to bring more equity to the enforcement of minor infractions and fare evasion. The budget shortfall unfortunately delayed measures such as the proposal to give free transit passes to students, but we still had some critical funding wins for active transportation despite the tight purse strings.
Here’s the full recap of bills CalBike supported and monitored in the 2023 legislative session.
6 bills signed into law
Governor Gavin Newsom signed six bills CalBike championed that will make active transportation safer.
Daylighting to Save Lives (AB 413, Lee): This law creates a statewide standard of a 20-foot setback for car parking from marked and unmarked crosswalks. The measure gives communities the flexibility to set shorter or longer clearances based on the speed of the street. The extra visibility will help prevent collisions between drivers and pedestrians, reducing the horrendous toll on our roadways. The next task for advocates is to make sure local governments know about the law and add signage and curb painting to inform drivers.
Caltrans Freeway Data (SB 695, Gonzalez): As the recent firing of Jeanie Ward-Waller showed, Caltrans needs more oversight. SB 695 requires the agency to provide data on its projects in a public portal and present them at California Transportation Commission meetings. CalBike has struggled to get Caltrans data; information on how many miles are under the agency’s management and how many miles it’s adding to the freeway system, among other things, will help us understand where transportation dollars are going and better focus our advocacy.
Deadly Oversized Cars (AB 251, Ward): The increase in the size of SUVs and light trucks has coincided with a rise in pedestrian fatalities. This will study the impact of these bloated vehicles on traffic deaths and injuries and the extra wear and tear on California’s roadways. The study will recommend whether the state should levy an additional fee for oversized vehicles.
Automated Speed Enforcement Pilot (AB 645, Friedman): Perseverance delivered a big victory, getting a pilot for automated speed enforcement across the finish line after several years of setbacks for this measure. The pilot will allow six cities to use cameras to issue speeding tickets. Cameras (if placed equitably) eliminate racial bias in speed enforcement. Automating enforcement also allows cities to crack down on speeding continuously, providing a consistent disincentive to drive at dangerous speeds.
Cars Blocking Bike Lanes (AB 361, Ward): Cities can now install forward-facing parking control devices on city-owned parking enforcement vehicles for the purpose of video imaging parking violations occurring in bicycle lanes. This will give communities greater capacity to ensure that bike infrastructure isn’t illegally repurposed as car storage.
Tenancy & Micromobility (SB 712, Portantino): Landlords will no longer be allowed to prevent tenants from owning a personal micromobility device, such as a scooter or bike, or from storing that device in their dwelling unit unless the landlord provides secure, long-term storage for those devices.
2 new laws we’re watching
Two of the active transportation bills the governor signed were on CalBike’s watch list of bills we weren’t opposing but weren’t actively supporting. We’ll be keeping an eye on these new laws to pressure agencies to implement them in ways that support rather than hinder people getting around by bike.
Bike Czar at Caltrans (SB 538, Portantino): We’re concerned this position could be greenwashing rather than moving Caltrans toward bike-friendly project designs. Ward-Waller’s firing underscores that concern, but maybe the high-profile blowback from that decision will force the agency to take active transportation more seriously. CalBike will keep an eye on this position and advocate for the position to have real power to make change at Caltrans.
E-Bike Safety Study (SB 381, Min): Like much of the discussion of e-bike safety lately, this measure is a double-edged sword. If the study produces information on how to keep e-bike riders and all people on bikes safer on our streets, it could be a positive measure. However, if the study focuses narrowly on e-bikes without considering unsafe road conditions that lead to deadly crashes, it may not lead to helpful insights. We hope to have opportunities to weigh in on the implementation of this measure to ensure it helps, not hurts, people who get around by bike.
2 vetoes
Governor Newsom nixed the two decriminalization bills that made it through the legislature, displaying a bias toward listening to the voices of law enforcement groups rather than transportation justice advocates or evidence of what is and isn’t effective at crime prevention.
Safe Passage for Bikes (AB 825, Bryan)
In an ideal world, protected, connected bikeways would allow people to get around every California community by bike. Unfortunately, that’s not the world we live in, and unless our state radically changes its transportation funding priorities, we won’t have enough safe bike infrastructure for many years. In the meantime, the Safe Passage for Bikes Bill would have let people on bikes, traveling around 10 mph, share the sidewalk with people walking. While there were valid concerns for pedestrian safety, we felt the bill addressed those. With this veto, the governor has condemned people on bikes to risk their lives sharing the street with speeding, 2-ton vehicles or risk a ticket (and being racially profiled) for riding on the sidewalk. This is a loss for equitable access to our streets and freedom from harassment for people of color, who are mostly likely to be stopped by police.
The state is not guaranteeing safe passage for bikes throughout California, but local leaders can still make this a reality by decriminalizing sidewalk riding in their communities or instructing police not to ticket people on bikes where the sidewalk is the safest alternative.
Decriminalize Transit Fare Evasion (AB 819, Bryan)
AB 819 would have removed criminal penalties for people with repeat tickets for failing to pay for their transit rides. While we want transit agencies to have the funding they need to provide reliable service, we shouldn’t fund that on the backs of people unable to pay the fare. Most fare evasion tickets go unpaid, and jail time is no solution. Providers don’t have to pursue criminal penalties for fare evasion, and some California transit agencies have already eliminated it. We hope more will follow suit.
Budget wins for active transportation in a lean fiscal year
Because of the projected budget shortfall, the governor’s initial budget cut $500 million from active transportation funding. CalBike rallied our supporters to ask the legislature to restore these critical funds, and our representatives listened. The final budget restored all the funding, and, as a result, the Active Transportation Program was able to greenlight more worthy projects to make biking and walking safer.
In addition, a funding trailer bill allocated $80 million to the California Air Resources Board for clean transportation programs. CARB’s draft budget puts $18 million of that amount toward more e-bike incentives. Thanks to CalBike supporters who emailed CARB in support of this allocation. It still needs board approval before it’s final, and we’ll let the CARB Board of Directors know this measure has our strong support.
The same budget trailer bill also included funding for the Transit Transformation Task Force (AB 761, Friedman), which will develop policies to grow transit ridership and improve the transit experience for all users.
As we celebrate these wins, we’re already working on our budget priorities for 2024. Once again, we’ll be asking the state to shift more transportation spending from freeway expansion to Complete Streets and other projects that support the transition to the greenest transportation options: biking, walking, and public transit.
4 two-year bills
Four bills CalBike supported became two-year bills. These bills need to be out of committee by January 2024 and have another chance to become law in the next legislative session.
Regional Prioritization for Clean Transportation (AB 6, Friedman): Requires regional transportation agencies to prioritize and fund transportation projects that significantly contribute toward regional and state climate goals
Project Selection Process (AB 7, Friedman): Requires state transportation agencies to incorporate environmental and equity principles into their project selection process
Bicycle Safety Stop (AB 73, Boerner Horvath): Legalizes stop-as-yield for bike riders aged 18 or older
Free Transit for Youth (AB 610, Holden): Establishes pilot program that provides grants to transit agencies for the costs of creating and implementing free youth transit passes to persons attending certain educational institutions
6 bills that didn’t make it
Good ideas sometimes take more than one try to make it into law. The process often involves revising the provisions of a bill in consultation with stakeholders and the governor’s office. In some cases, it’s a question of timing and the political climate.
RIP for six excellent bills that didn’t make it out of the legislature. May they rise again.
The Stop Baseless Searches Bill (AB 93, Bryan) would have curtailed baseless searches of people biking and driving. Protecting people from police harassment is essential to creating safe streets, and we hope this measure returns in some form in the future.
The Stop Pretextual Policing Bill (SB 50, Bradford) would have limited police from stopping drivers and people on bikes for low-level infractions. It would have prevented police from stopping people on bikes solely for minor infractions such as riding on the sidewalk or riding without a light. Black and Brown bike riders are disproportionately stopped by police, so this would have been a big step forward for equitable streets.
The Equity-First Transportation Funding Act (AB 1525, Bonta) would have prioritized transportation funding for historically underserved communities. It’s a good way to begin to correct the harms of decades of underfunded streets and punitive urban planning.
Highway Pilot Projects to Reduce Emissions (AB 981, Friedman) would have required Caltrans to complete 10 pilot highway maintenance and rehabilitation demonstration projects that would have resulted in significantly reduced emissions of greenhouse gases.
California Bike Smart Safety Handbook (AB 1188, Boerner) would have created a requirement for the DMV to write a bicycle handbook. It died in Appropriations.
No More Warrants for Infractions (AB 1266, Kalra) was a bill to eliminate the use of bench warrants for minor infractions. It would have reduced the potential for violence and police overreaction at traffic stops.
https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/California_State_Capitol_in_Sacramento.jpg10001500Jared Sanchezhttps://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.pngJared Sanchez2023-10-17 17:39:202023-12-07 07:49:582023 Legislative Recap: Big Wins for Active Transportation Slate