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Legislative Recap: CalBike and Our Allies Deliver Wins for Bikes in Sacramento

October 11, 2022/by Kevin Claxton

The 2022 California legislative session ended on a high note, with CalBike’s sponsored legislation and many bike-friendly bills we supported becoming law. Breaking it down:

The legislature sent 19 excellent active transportation bills to the governor
The governor signed 15 of these bills into law
The governor vetoed four bills, mostly citing budget concerns
One bill we opposed became law, but with modifications that make it less harmful
An additional five bills died in the legislature

CalBike supporters played a key role in this victory, sending more than 5,500 emails, Tweets, and petition signatures to support active transportation legislation. Here’s a detailed recap.

CalBike-sponsored bills become law

Among the many excellent bills that passed the legislature this year are CalBike’s two sponsored bills.

The Plan for the Future Bill (SB 932, Portantino) will require general plans to include active transportation in their circulation elements and start building safe streets quickly. We co-sponsored this bill with our partners at Streets for All.

CalBike supporters sent over 2,200 emails and Twitter messages to Sacramento in support of the Plan for the Future Bill.

The Freedom to Walk Bill (AB 2147, Ting) doesn’t fully decriminalize jaywalking but prevents police from issuing tickets unless the street crossing is truly dangerous. It is a welcome first step to stop the over-enforcement of an outdated statute invented a century ago by car companies. And we know we’ve touched a nerve in the cultural zeitgeist because, for the second year in a row, this measure made it as a clue on NPR’s Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me!

CalBike supporters sent over 1,000 emails and Twitter messages to Sacramento in support of the Freedom to Walk.

Many more wins for active transportation

CalBike supported a historic slate of active transportation bills this year. Of 25 bills introduced, 15 (including our two sponsored bills) became law. That’s good news for people who get around by bike and for all Californians.

CalBike supporters sent over 500 emails and Twitter messages to Sacramento in support of the active transportation slate.

The OmniBike Bill (AB 1909, Friedman) makes bike-friendly changes to the California Vehicle Code. These small but significant amendments will make biking safer and increase access for e-bikes. The most significant change is that a car driver will be required to move over a full lane to pass a person riding a bike, where possible.

More than 1,800 CalBike supporters sent emails or signed a petition in support of the Omnibike Bill.

Here are the other active transportation bills that passed:

AB 2097 Friedman – No auto parking minimums near transit
SB 922 Wiener – CEQA exemptions for transit and active transportation infrastructure
AB 2264 Bloom – Pedestrian head start at crossing signals
SB 1079 Portantino – Sound-activated enforcement devices
SB 1472 Stern – Speeding and reckless driving
SB 307 McGuire – Great Redwood Trail Agency authorization
SB 1230 Limon – Zero-emission and near-zero emission vehicle incentive programs
SB 1107 Dodd – Protect California Drivers Act of 2022 increases liability insurance
AB 2863 Wilson – Bike parking standards in building codes (research)
AB 2174 Chen – Treat bikes and scooters as vehicles for purposes of towing regulations

AB 371 passes, but bikes spared from insurance requirement

For the past two years, we called AB 371 the Kill Bike-Share Bill because it initially imposed an outsized insurance requirement on bike and scooter sharing system operators that might have put an end to shared micromobility in California. Unfortunately, the bill passed, and the governor signed it. However, CalBike and our allies in the legislature were able to work with the bill’s author to remove the insurance requirement for shared bikes and reduce the coverage amount for scooters.

So the bad news is much less bad than it might have been, and bike-share still thrives in California. We’ll keep an eye on potential bicycle insurance requirements and be prepared to oppose it if it comes back again.

What got vetoed

The governor vetoed four excellent active transportation bills. The reason he gave for three of those vetoes was budgetary concerns because they required expenditures that weren’t in the budget passed in 2022. Those measures may come back, accompanied by budget allocations. And CalBike will work to get money set aside for an annual e-bike incentive program, even though AB 117, the bill codifying the program, got vetoed.

SB 457 Portantino and Wilk – Car-free tax credit
AB 1919 Holden – Free student transit passes
AB 117 Boerner Horvath – E-bike incentives program
AB 2438 Friedman – Align transportation funding with climate goals

What didn’t make it out of the legislature

Our biggest disappointment in 2022 was the Bicycle Safety Stop Bill. The safety stop allows people on bikes to treat stop signs as yields, and it’s been successfully implemented in several other states. It passed the legislature, but the author withdrew it ahead of a threatened veto from Governor Newsom.

Four more bills stalled out during the legislative process:

AB 2336, Friedman – Automated speed enforcement pilot program
AB 1778, C. Garcia – Prohibits any state funds or personnel from funding freeways in high-poverty or polluted areas
AB 1975 Nazarian – California bus shelter funding
AB 2237 Friedman – Regional transportation improvement plans

All five of these bills are excellent measures that would make our streets more welcoming to people on bikes, increase road safety, and make California more resilient to climate change. It sometimes takes more than one try to get a bill through, and we hope these bills come back in future sessions.

We don’t see the momentum for biking, walking, and public transit slowing down, and we’re already planning for a more ambitious agenda in 2023. Our progress this year shows that when we all raise our voices, we can bring about big changes!

Thank you to all of you who sent an email, tweeted, or signed a petition to support better biking, and congratulations on the role you played in moving California in the right direction. If you didn’t, there’s always next year. Sign up for CalBike’s newsletter to stay up to date on opportunities to fight for safer streets and a healthier, greener world.

CalBike Executive Director Responds to California’s Unprecedented Support for Active Transportation

October 7, 2022/by Kevin Claxton

This was an unprecedented year for bike-friendly and active transportation legislation in Sacramento. CalBike worked hard with our members and allies to advocate for bike-friendly measures, and it’s clear that our elected officials have heard the message that Californians want safer streets, more space for biking and walking, and strong measures to tackle climate change.

We can’t drive ourselves out of the climate crisis; California needs to fundamentally alter its transportation system. The 2022 legislative session shows that our elected leaders recognize the value of bikes and other modes of active transportation to help bring the changes we need. Several new laws will bring vital changes to our communities, reducing pollution, mitigating the effects of climate change, and improving equity and quality of life for all Californians.

Pedestrians aren’t “jays”

Car companies invented the concept of “jaywalking” 100 years ago. At the time, jay was an insulting word for a country bumpkin, and the implication was that country folk were too uneducated to know how to walk on city streets filled with cars. The auto manufacturers did this as part of a PR campaign as sentiment rose against the new vehicles for mowing down children in the streets (something that autos continue to do, but now with sadly little awareness or outrage).

With the governor’s signature on AB 2147, the Freedom to Walk Act, California joins a growing movement to decriminalize safe, midblock street crossings. The law leaves jaywalking statutes on the books but will prevent police from ticketing people who cross without endangering themselves or others.

The Freedom to Walk Act won’t affect most people’s walking behavior: Everybody jaywalks, and that will continue. But it will make the streets safer for Black and Latino Californians, who are disproportionately targeted while walking or biking, sometimes leading to lethal police encounters or economically harmful tickets.

CalBike applauds Assemblymember Phil Ting for writing this bill, and for his unwavering support for passing it into law.

Planning for the future

CalBike also cosponsored the Plan for the Future Bill, SB 932, which requires a specific change to a somewhat obscure planning document, but the bill will have a tremendous impact on our neighborhoods in the years to come. Cities and counties base their long-term planning decisions on General Plans, which are only updated every 15 years — sometimes even longer. The changes outlined in General Plans may take years or decades to come to fruition, if they are ever built.

The Plan for the Future Bill requires local governments to update the circulation element of their General Plans (which governs all elements of transportation into and through a community) to include Complete Streets and other features that enhance safety for people walking and biking, and plans must be updated by the middle of 2024. Then they have two years to start building what they have planned, so good ideas don’t gather dust. The bill also creates a state fund to help pay for the costs of these changes.

We can’t wait decades to create communities where it’s safe and appealing to get on a bike or take the bus rather than driving a personal car. The Plan for the Future Bill recognizes this and takes bold action to move California into the future we need. We thank Senator Anthony Portantino for authoring this bill and our friends at Streets for All for cosponsoring it and working with us to pass it.

Accelerating the speed of change

SB 922, which grants permanent CEQA exemption for active transportation infrastructure projects, will help the plans created under SB 932 become reality. The measure extends an exemption granted temporarily during the pandemic.

CEQA, California’s environmental review law, is crucial to assessing the potential impacts of construction projects on our fragile environment. However, the law has often been twisted by anti-development forces. A CEQA lawsuit delayed the implementation of San Francisco’s bike plan for many years, putting that city’s bike riders in harm’s way and delaying the shift toward a sustainable transportation system.

SB 922 recognizes that bikeways have a positive impact on the environment by making active transportation safer and enabling more people to choose alternatives to driving. We thank Senator Scott Wiener for his leadership on this issue.

Bikes belong on California streets

The OmniBike Bill, AB 1909, makes four essential changes to the California vehicle code:

Car drivers must change lanes to pass bike riders wherever possible.
E-bikes, including Class 3 bikes, can’t be excluded from most bikeways.
Cities can’t enforce bicycle licensing regulations, which have often been used to harass Black and brown bike riders.
People on bikes can advance on a walk signal, even if the traffic light is red in their direction.

These changes legalize logical and safe choices for people on bikes, and reduce potential police harassment, discrimination, and pretextual policing. The change lanes to pass provision gives drivers clear direction about how to safely pass bike riders and will make it easier for police to ticket offenders.

This law has a bonus provision because AB 2264, which also became law, gives pedestrians a 3-7 second head start to walk before cars get the green. Called a leading pedestrian interval (LPI), this measure has been shown to reduce collisions involving people walking by up to 60%. Under AB 1909, bikes will be able to advance on the LPI, increasing safety for people on bikes as well.

We thank Assemblymember Laura Friedman, who authored the OmniBike Bill and several other critical active transportation measures, for her leadership on these issues.

Electric bicycle incentive program takes shape

In 2021, CalBike helped win a budget allocation for an e-bike incentive, similar to the rebates that California offers residents who buy electric cars. This year, we have worked with CARB to provide input to help shape the program. And we have mobilized over 8,000 people who care about the program, which makes e-bikes more affordable for more Californians, to add their voices to the discussion. CARB expects the pilot project to launch by the end of March 2023.

These are just a few highlights from a historic slate of active transportation bills that became law this year, and CalBike is thrilled with the results. This progress signals rapidly growing support for the transportation mode shift that California needs, not just to EVs but to biking, walking, and transit. We look forward to building on this momentum in 2023 to ensure that all Californians have access to healthy, sustainable transportation options, to safe and welcoming streets, and to joyful, connected, liveable communities.

2021 California Legislative Wrap Up

November 5, 2021/by Kevin Claxton

Positive Results for Active Transportation, Amid Disappointments

On Friday, October 8, 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom issued a list of bills he had signed or vetoed. The list included vetoes of three of the most important bills that would have made our streets and communities safer and more livable.

While we were extremely disappointed by the vetoes, there were some bright spots for active transportation in the 2021 legislative session. California assemblymembers and senators introduced a raft of legislation that could transform our communities for the better. Many of these bills would have served to slow our trajectory toward climate catastrophe.

Some outstanding bills got stalled out in committee long before they could reach the governor’s desk—you can read about those in our mid-session and post-session legislative recaps. But several bills did make it into law, and those that didn’t still succeeded in adding critical issues to statewide and national discussions about who has the right to be safe and comfortable using public streets.

Progress happened through several channels

While legislation got most of the attention, wins for people who bike came from other government actions this year, too. For example, several of the candidates CalBike supported in 2020 showed that they are true bike champions by supporting bike-friendly bills and active transportation funding.

And it’s hard to understate the consequences of Laura Friedman becoming chair of the Assembly Transportation Committee. We knew Friedman was an ally when she attended the last California Bicycle Summit in Los Angeles. She earned cheers at the Summit for challenging the comments of a Caltrans speaker and saying that safe roads for our children are more important than the convenient delivery of products from Amazon. Still, she has exceeded our expectations, authoring impactful legislation (though AB 1147 was the victim of one of the Governor’s vetoes – see below) and shifting the focus of the committee’s efforts toward building the green transportation networks we will need to navigate a world wracked by climate change. We are lucky to have champions like Assemblymember Friedman supporting active transportation in California.

We also saw progress through the work of the California Walk and Bike Technical Advisory Committee, of which CalBike is a member. The committee submitted a promising request to narrow the minimum lane width to 10 feet. The current minimum width of 11 feet often precludes the ability to install a bicycle lane or widen a sidewalk. The committee proved that there is no evidence that wider vehicle lanes are safer, and plenty of reasons to allow narrower lanes, including lower vehicle speeds. We are optimistic that Caltrans will accept this road design change, which could have a major impact on street redesign across California.

And, of course, CalBike won a big victory for biking by getting our $10 million E-Bike Affordability Program fully funded through the budget process. Now, we are working with CARB to shape the structure of the program, which will begin to distribute e-bike grants in July 2022. Sign the form below to get notified when purchase incentives are available.

Governor Newsom’s lack of vision

A few weeks after the governor survived a recall, with the support of CalBike and other active transportation advocacy organizations, he showed us why he might not be the visionary leader that California needs in a time of climate crisis. He relied on selective and biased data in his veto statements for CalBike’s bills, showing that he’s out of touch with the needs of people who bike and walk, particularly communities of color.

The legislature recognized that the Freedom to Walk Act and the Bicycle Safety Stop Bill would have made the streets safer for the most vulnerable users but, unfortunately, the governor was swayed by the “windshield perspective” of law enforcement, a group that has historically been biased against bike riders.

Another disappointment was Newsom’s veto of AB 1147, which CalBike strongly supported. The bill would have initiated coordination among California planning agencies to help reach our climate goals. It calls for the prioritization of 15-minute communities where low-carbon living becomes possible because goods and services are no more than 15 minutes from any residence. The bill does not fund these projects but begins the process of planning them, making this a powerful climate-reduction tool.

“The climate crisis is real, and it’s here now. We need to reduce the impacts of our transportation system quickly, not years in the future. AB 1147 would have given California communities crucial tools to add safe biking and walking infrastructure so that everyone from 8 to 80 years old has the option to choose active transportation to get around their communities. We are disappointed that Governor Newsom lacked the vision to see that this bill is essential to a happier, healthier, and more climate-resilient California.”
Dave Snyder, CalBike Executive Director

In his veto message for AB 1147, the governor cited ongoing negotiations to allocate additional funding to active transportation and rail projects. That’s a weak excuse for his lack of support of a bill that would have allowed communities to embark on the radical infrastructure changes we will need if we have any hope of combatting climate change. CalBike hopes the ideas articulated in Assemblymember Friedman’s visionary bill, which both houses of the legislature endorsed, will not die with this veto.

Now, some good news

Governor Newsom did sign AB 43 to give communities more leeway to lower speed limits to make streets safer for people who walk and bike.

Bills that pass the legislature but don’t get a veto or a signature from the governor automatically become law. Several bills that CalBike supported fell into this category:

AB 773 will make it easier for communities to continue or expand Slow Streets programs like the ones put in place during the pandemic.
SB 69 advances a rails-to-trails project to create a bikeway from Sonoma County to Humboldt County.
SB 339 expands a pilot project in what we hope will be a move toward mileage-based road user fees that will discourage driving and encourage alternate transportation modes.
SB 671 is an essential step toward reducing toxic emissions from diesel trucks in freight corridors, which are often adjacent to disadvantaged communities.

Left in limbo

Several bills on CalBike’s watchlist became two-year bills. This means that the legislation may come back in 2022, with a shorter path to passage or failure. One of the bills we’re watching most closely is AB 371, which includes insurance requirements that could end bike-share in California if it passes as currently written. We will work with the author to try and craft a bill that meets the need for better liability insurance for shared micromobility while ensuring that Californians still have access to this vital transportation option.

You can see the final status of all the bills CalBike followed on our legislative watch page or in the chart below.