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2023 Legislative Recap: Big Wins for Active Transportation Slate

October 17, 2023/by Jared Sanchez

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.

CalBike End-of-Session Legislative Recap 2023

September 21, 2023/by Jared Sanchez

California’s legislators are done for the year; now it’s up to Governor Gavin Newsom which bills become law and which get vetoed. Newsom has until October 14 to sign or veto bills. If he takes no action, the bill becomes law.

There are several noteworthy bills that will improve active transportation on the governor’s desk. We had some success in the budget, restoring money initially pulled from the ATP and ensuring funding to continue the e-bike incentive program. Since this is the first year of a two-year session, several measures became two-year bills, which means they’ll get debated again early next year. And quite a few excellent bills died in the legislature.

Dealing with the realities of California’s budget deficit forced lawmakers to make some tough decisions, particularly in matters regarding funding. Here’s a recap of everything that happened with bike-friendly bills in a bruising legislative session.

The Active Transportation Slate: Bills that sit with the governor

CalBike’s slate includes six excellent bills on the governor’s desk that will make biking safer, improve transit, study a vehicle weight fee, and increase Caltrans transparency.

AB 825 Bryan: Safe Passage for Bikes

The Safe Passage for Bikes Bill allows bicycle riding on a sidewalk adjacent to a street that does not include a Class I, Class II, or Class IV bikeway. As it made its way through the legislature, this bill was amended to overcome objections from cities that wanted more authority to regulate sidewalks, particularly in busy areas. The bill will take away a justification for traffic stops that may be racially biased and give people on bikes safer places to ride on dangerous streets with no bikeways. At the same time, it includes provisions to protect pedestrians and give them the right of way on sidewalks. AB 825 is a positive step toward decriminalization and bike rider safety, and we hope the governor signs it.

Email the governor and ask him to sign AB 825 for bike safety.

AB 413 Lee: Daylighting to Save Lives

The daylighting bill prohibits the stopping, standing, or parking of a vehicle within 20 feet of any unmarked or marked crosswalk. Intersections are the most common sites of collisions involving people walking and biking. Though this measure has been amended to allow shorter daylighting in some places, we think this is a crucial measure that will improve safety by increasing visibility.

Tell Governor Newsom to sign AB 413 to daylight dangerous intersections.

AB 819 Bryan: Decriminalizing Transit Fare Evasion

This bill decriminalizes fare evasion by removing it as a misdemeanor classification. Riders can still be fined, but potential penalties wouldn’t include jail time. In our ideal world, public transit would be free and frequent, with no need for police to check fares. Unfortunately, our civic budget priorities won’t fund that at the moment, but AB 819 is a step in the right direction.

Show your support for decriminalizing fare evasion – it just takes a minute.

AB 645 Friedman: Automated Speed Enforcement

The Automated Speed Enforcement Bill establishes an automated speed safety pilot program in six jurisdictions: the cities of Los Angeles, San Jose, Oakland, Glendale, and Long Beach, and the City and County of San Francisco. Cities must give 30 days notice before the program starts, and tickets issued for the first 60 days will be warnings with no fines. Automated speed enforcement has been effective in other states, and it’s crucial to making our streets safer since speed is a major factor in collisions with serious injuries and fatalities. Assemblymember Laura Friedman has been trying to pass this measure for a few years; this is the first time it’s made it all the way through the legislature. The pilot cities are all eager to participate, and we hope the bill passes so we can get data on the usefulness of speed cameras on California streets.

AB 251 Ward: Deadly Oversized Cars

The Deadly Oversized Cars Bill convenes a task force to study the relationship between vehicle weight and injuries to pedestrians and cyclists and to study the costs and benefits of imposing a passenger vehicle weight fee. If California adds a weight fee, it could serve as a disincentive for manufacturers and consumers to make and purchase heavier SUVs and light trucks.

SB 695 Gonzalez: Caltrans Freeway Data

This data transparency measure will require Caltrans to prepare and make available information and data about activities on the state highway system on a public portal. It seems wonky, but having more visibility into Caltrans projects is crucial for advocates like CalBike because it will make it much easier to direct our efforts where they will have the most impact.

Two bills we’re watching also made it through the legislative process. SB 381 would initiate a study of e-bike safety. We support this idea if it looks at how to keep e-bike riders (and all people on bikes) safe on our streets and bikeways, but we’re concerned it could be another piece of the current e-bike panic that unfairly blames electric bikes for causing cars to crash into them. SB 538 would require Caltrans to appoint a bike czar to oversee all things bike-related at the agency. We think everyone at Caltrans should understand bike-friendly planning rather than leaving it to one person to advocate for better bikeways within the agency.

What is a two-year bill?

Every odd-numbered year is the first year of the two-year legislative session in California. Bills introduced in odd years have three paths: become law, die in the legislature or get vetoed by the governor, or become a two-year bill. Two-year bills must pass their house of origin by January 31 of the following year.

There are many reasons authors may choose to make measures into two-year bills. They may need more time to build support to pass a committee or floor vote, the bill may need more time to be amended, or the political climate wasn’t favorable this session but might be better next year.

Here are all the bills CalBike supported that became two-year bills:

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
Cars Blocking Bike Lanes (AB 361, Ward): Authorizes cities to install automated forward-facing parking control devices on city-owned parking enforcement vehicles for the purpose of video imaging parking violations occurring in bicycle lanes
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
Transit Transformation Task Force (AB 761, Friedman): Establishes a Transit Transformation Task Force to develop policies to grow transit ridership and improve the transit experience for all users
Tenancy & Micromobility (SB 712, Portantino): Prohibits a landlord from prohibiting a tenant from owning a personal micromobility device or from storing a personal micromobility device in their dwelling unit unless the landlord provides secure, long-term storage for those devices.

Bills that didn’t make it

Six bills CalBike supported died in the legislature. We discuss two in more detail below. All are excellent measures that we hope to see return in some form in a future session.

The Equity-First Transportation Funding Act (AB 1525, Bonta): This bill would have prioritized transit 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): This 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 Horvath): A requirement for the DMV to create a bicycle handbook died in Appropriations in a tight budget year.
No More Warrants for Infractions (AB 1266, Kalra): Eliminating the use of bench warrants for minor infractions would have reduced the temperature of traffic stops that can sometimes become lethal.

Measures to make policing less biased and more effective failed in 2023

Traffic policing is often aimed more at crime prevention than curbing traffic violence, and, as a result, it’s not effective at either and is the most common starting point for police encounters that turn violent. CalBike sponsored the Stop Baseless Searches Bill (AB 93, Bryan) to prevent police from searching people stopped while biking or driving. Investigations have shown that police are more likely to search bike riders during a stop for a minor infraction, that these stops are disproportionately of Black and Latino Californians, and that they’re unlikely to turn up any evidence of a crime, but this measure didn’t make it out of the Assembly.

We also prioritized the Stop Pretextual Policing Bill (SB 50, Bradford), which would have prevented police stops for minor infractions. It passed the Senate but died on the Assembly floor after last-minute opposition from law enforcement.

Fewer than half of violent crimes in California are solved. Yet police prefer to spend time on traffic stops, an element of the discredited “broken windows” theory of crime prevention. Changing attitudes about what’s needed to keep our streets safe from traffic violence is as big a challenge as convincing planners to design infrastructure that keeps people safe while biking and walking. We will continue to advocate for both.

3 Active Transportation Bills to Watch this Week

September 11, 2023/by Brian Smith

For Immediate Release: 9/11/23

Contact: Jared Sanchez, Policy Director, CalBike, (714) 262-0921, Jared@CalBike.org

CalBike – Legislation Watch, End of the Session 2023

SACRAMENTO – As the California state legislature approaches its final days to send bills to the Governor’s Desk in 2023 (September 14), CalBike is prioritizing three bills.

“Biking is not a crime. California has underinvested in safe infrastructure for decades and overinvested in traffic policing, sometimes with lethal results,” explained Jared Sanchez, policy director at CalBike. “These remaining bills will improve safety and access for every person who bikes, walks, or takes public transportation in California.”

CalBike urges senators to vote yes on the Daylighting to Save Lives Bill (AB 413) and the Safe Passage for Bikes Bill (AB 825) and assemblymembers to vote yes on the Stop Pretextual Policing Bill (SB 50).

AB 413 – (Lee) Daylighting to Save Lives: This bill prohibits stopping, standing, or parking a vehicle within 20 feet of the approach direction of any unmarked or marked crosswalk to increase visibility and reduce potentially lethal collisions.

AB 825 – (Bryan) Safe Passage for Bikes: As part of CalBike’s “Biking Is Not a Crime” slate, this measure allows bicycle riding on a sidewalk adjacent to a street that does not include a Class I, Class II, or Class IV bikeway. It protects pedestrians by requiring people on bikes to share the space responsibly and gives local leaders flexibility to impose further safety restrictions.

SB 50 – (Bradford) Stop Pretextual Policing: Police stops of people for minor infractions while biking or driving doesn’t improve traffic safety. These stops are often aimed more at deterring crime, but they do little to prevent crime, disproportionately target Black and Latino Californians, and can lead to lethal encounters. Stop pretextual policing and direct police resources toward effective crime prevention measures.

Active Transportation Slate Hangs in Suspense in CA Senate

August 24, 2023/by Jared Sanchez

Legislative Update: Active Transportation Wins Outnumber Losses as Bills Head to the Governor

September 6, 2022/by Jared Sanchez

Legislative Update: Status of Active Transportation Bills at the Midpoint

June 2, 2022/by Jared Sanchez

All the Bike-Friendly Bills Introduced in California in 2022

March 3, 2022/by Jared Sanchez

It’s that time of year again when legislators introduce hundreds of new bills that could change the law in California. As always, as your leading statewide bicycle advocate, CalBike is keeping an eye on this for you. It takes a community of dedicated bike riders to get bike-friendly bills passed (and stop the bad ones)—we couldn’t do it without your support.

Happily, there were many bills that will support safer streets and better biking introduced this year, so 2022 will provide lots of opportunities for engagement and advocacy. We’re following measures that will improve biking and all forms of active transportation, mitigate climate change, and make California more liveable.

The bike-friendly bills list includes several pieces of legislation similar to bills introduced in 2021 coming back for a second try at becoming law, including two CalBike measures that passed the legislature, thanks to thousands of emails from CalBike members but were vetoed by the governor.

Here are the bike-friendly bills CalBike is watching.

Bicycle Safety Stop

AB 1713 (Boerner Horvath) is a reprise of last year’s campaign to pass the Bicycle Safety Stop and will allow people on bikes to treat stop signs as yields. In 2022, however, in response to the governor’s veto message on child safety, the new law will only apply to adults (age 18+). CalBike will be following this measure closely, and we’ll let you know when it’s time to ask your legislators and the governor for support.

Legalizing Safe Street Crossings

AB 2147 (Ting) is the sequel to the Freedom to Walk Act that passed the assembly and senate last year. After Governor Newsom’s veto, Assemblymember Phil Ting revamped the bill to address the governor’s concerns. The revised version will direct police not to ticket for safe pedestrian mid-block crossings (jaywalking). Ending enforcement of safe midblock crossings will reduce opportunities for police encounters that too often become violent for people of color, and CalBike will work to help pass this bill.

Sustainable Transportation Project Streamlining

SB 922 (Wiener) will help agencies install sustainable transportation infrastructure by exempting certain projects from unnecessary CEQA review. It applies to bike lanes, transit lanes and stations, HOV lanes, and related projects, as long as the projects are within existing rights-of-way and do not add automobile capacity. The bill will make permanent a temporary CEQA exemption put in place during the pandemic and add requirements for equity analysis.

Fix Deadly Roads Bill

SB 932 (Portantino) will require cities to adopt significant bicycle, pedestrian, and traffic calming elements when they develop and revise their general plans. General plans serve as blueprints for the future, prescribing policy goals and objectives to shape and guide the physical development of cities. In the past, plans in some communities have ignored the needs of bicyclists, pedestrians, and transit riders. As our planet warms, we can’t afford to bake unsustainable auto transportation into our city planning. CalBike strongly supports this measure.

Bikes Belong Bill

AB 1909 (Friedman) will change the state vehicle code to facilitate biking across our state. Elements of this legislation include requiring vehicles to switch lanes when passing people on bikes and expanding where it’s legal to ride e-bikes.

Signals for Pedestrian Crossings

AB 2264 (Bloom) requires Caltrans and cities to update all pedestrian control signals to give pedestrians a head start of 3 to 7 seconds. People walking will get to enter an intersection on the green light before cars get the green, which will improve visibility and, we hope, reduce crashes involving pedestrians.

Bicycle Highways

AB 2237 (Friedman) when the governor vetoed AB 1147 in 2021, he said that the critical changes to regional planning it envisioned would be better accomplished through the budget process. Yet, money to implement bicycle highways and 15-minute neighborhoods is not in the governor’s proposed budget. CalBike and our supporters continue to advocate for $2 billion for bikes, which could fund some of the connected bicycle networks in this important bill. This bill is a transformative piece of legislation, and we hope, given a second chance, the governor will sign it into law.

Ending Freeway Expansion

AB 1778 (C. Garcia) will prohibit any state money from funding or permitting freeway widening projects in areas with high rates of pollution and poverty. As decades of research have shown, low-income communities of color are most burdened by highway pollution that causes unnecessary cases of asthma and other major health issues.

Transportation Funding and Climate Goals

AB 2438 (Friedman) requires all transportation projects funded at the local or state level to align with the California Transportation Plan and the Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure adopted by the Transportation Agency. This effort will codify California’s efforts to align transportation funding with our climate goals.

The process of passing legislation is messy and complex, so things will undoubtedly change. Provisions may get added or removed from some bills that change CalBike’s position. We will work to strengthen and support these bike-friendly measures, and we’ll keep you up to date as the session progresses. See the status of all the legislation we’re watching on our 2022 Legislative Watch page.