SB 127 Archives

CalBike 2019 Legislative Session Wrap-Up

November 14, 2019/by Kevin Claxton

Several victories advance CalBike’s agenda, but a veto forces us to change strategy

While Governor Newsom’s disappointing veto of the Complete Streets Bill got the most attention, CalBike advocated for much more in the 2019 legislative session. CalBike members responded to our calls to action to secure important victories for our mission of making California’s communities more bike-friendly. CalBike succeeded in getting two of its priority bills signed into law: the Bike Turn Lane Bill and the E-Bike Vouchers Bill. These and several other victories marked a fruitful 2019 legislative session for CalBike.

Despite the veto, CalBike’s Complete Streets Campaign scored a success in galvanizing a broad movement for safe streets

More than 80 organizations signed on, with a diverse leadership team that included California Walks, the American Heart Association, AARP, and Safe Routes Partnership. This powerful coalition, backed by thousands of constituents, got the bill past many obstacles in the legislature, including a falsified and inflated cost estimate presented to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. This coalition will stick together to bring unprecedented pressure on Caltrans to meet its stated mission of creating a “safe” transportation system. We will not allow Newsom’s veto to result in continued dangerous conditions for children and older adults and everyone else who chooses to walk, bike, or take transit on state-owned roads in our communities! Our Complete Streets Campaign has simply entered a new phase.

E-bikes included as a clean mobility option

CalBike sponsored SB 400 (Umberg) to make electric bicycles eligible for vouchers in the state’s Clean Cars 4 All program. The program, funded by the California Air Resources Board, provides support for low-income households in the five largest air quality management districts who wish to trade in their old polluting cars for something more affordable than a discounted electric car. E-bikes are much cheaper and have even lower emissions than an electric/hybrid vehicle.

Safer bikeway design mandated

We sponsored AB 1266 (Rivas) to require Caltrans to improve its bikeway design guidance. The Bike-Friendly Turn Lane Bill, signed by the governor on September 4, will result in official approval for designs that encourage people on bicycles to use the left portion of a right-turn lane to go straight, which is often the safest and most appropriate maneuver. This bill is a very important win for cyclists. Intersections are the most dangerous place for bicyclists, where the most injuries and fatalities occur. This law provides a new tool for improving bicycle safety at intersections.

Climate and environmental justice in the next California Transportation Plan

AB 285 (Friedman) requires Caltrans to address how the state will achieve maximum feasible emissions reductions in order to attain a statewide reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. This law also obliges Caltrans to show that the five-year update to the California Transportation Plan it submits in 2020 is consistent with air quality standards. It mandates a forecast of the impacts of advanced and emerging technologies over a 20-year horizon on infrastructure, access, and transportation systems and a review of the progress made implementing past California Transportation Plans. It adds environmental justice as a subject area that the plan is required to consider for the movement of people and freight. Read the full text of the bill in its final form.

Housing and transportation agencies must coordinate

AB 185 (Grayson, Cervantes) requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to participate in joint meetings of the California Air Resources Board and the California Transportation Commission. In joint meetings of the latter two agencies (required thanks to earlier advocacy by CalBike and allies), it became apparent that transportation and air quality goals can’t be easily addressed without also addressing land use. This is an important step toward coordinating our state’s policies to reduce car traffic.

Opening up Amtrak buses to everyone, not just train passengers

Have you ever tried to book an Amtrak bus only to learn that the system won’t allow it unless you also book a train ride for a segment of your trip? For example, Amtrak won’t allow you to book a ticket on the nonstop bus from Los Angeles to Bakersfield, or from Sacramento to Redding, even though they have frequent regular service. SB 742 (Allen) fixes that by authorizing a state or local government to enter into an agreement with Amtrak to provide for the intercity transportation of passengers by motor carrier over regular routes that are open to all riders, including passengers who are not connecting to a passenger rail service.This marks a long-desired change in the rules about Amtrak buses that will make intercity public transit more widely available.

Protecting the Active Transportation Program

SB 152 (Beall) would have changed the allocation of funds from the Active Transportation Program (ATP), which provides funding for bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure projects, including Safe Routes to School. The bill would have granted most of the money directly to regional metropolitan transportation agencies instead of through competitive grants at the state level. This would have threatened the statewide competitive program, which is a model of transparency and equity. CalBike and its partners opposed this bill and helped to defeat it in the Senate.

Governor Vetoes Complete Streets Bill – Chooses Against Safety

October 12, 2019/by Kevin Claxton

For Immediate Release: October 12, 2019

Contact:
Linda Khamoushian, California Bicycle Coalition, 916-668-9401, linda@calbike.org
Tony Dang, California Walks, 510-464-8052, tony@calwalks.org
Jamie Morgan, American Heart Association, 916-431-2359, Jamie.Morgan@heart.org
David Azevedo, AARP, 626-616-9539, dazevedo@aarp.org
Margo Pedroso, Safe Routes Partnership, 301-292-1043, margo@saferoutespartnership.org

SB 127: Gov. Gavin Newsom VETOES “COMPLETE STREETS” BILL

SACRAMENTO, Calif.– Late this evening, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed the Complete Streets for Active Living Bill (Senate Bill 127) championed by Sen. Scott Wiener.

The bill would have required the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to consider bicycle and pedestrian safety improvements when it repairs or repaves state routes that serve as local streets. This bill aimed to ensure state roads that run through local communities (e.g. 19th Avenue in San Francisco, Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles, San Pablo Avenue in the East Bay, Santa Rosa Street in San Luis Obispo) are safe for people to walk, bike and use wheelchairs along those routes.

The Complete Streets for Active Living Bill had strong and widespread support. A recent poll found that 78% of California voters support a policy requiring safety improvements when improving a road. They want children to be able to safely walk or bike to school. Hundreds of schools exist within a half-mile of a California State Route and these streets remain some of the deadliest in the state.

Linda Khamoushian, Senior Policy Advocate, California Bicycle Coalition,:
“Gov. Newsom’s decision blatantly ignores the immense support for this critical policy change. People risk their lives everyday just to walk or bike along dangerous state-owned streets. Without more aggressive complete streets policies, our transportation system will continue to operate business as usual. SB 127 was a rare opportunity to create livable streets for everyone. This decision was ill-informed by the faulty cost estimates from Caltrans that were proven illogical based on actual practice, and unfortunately will only perpetuate distrust without resolution. Communities demanded better from the Governor, but now are left in the dust.”

Jamie Morgan, Government Relations Regional Lead, American Heart Association:
“Californians want safer, more livable streets that support local businesses and local jobs. They want the ability to walk and bike safely. By vetoing SB 127, Gov. Newsom missed out on the opportunity to create more livable streets for our children, our residents and our communities.”

Tony Dang, Executive Director, California Walks:
“We are appalled by Governor Newsom’s decision to derail SB 127 despite overwhelming support by the public and the Legislature. Families and children deserve to be able to walk, bike, and cross their community’s local and main streets without fear–the veto of SB127 lets Caltrans off the hook and leaves the safety of our vulnerable residents to chance.”

Margo Pedroso, Deputy Director, Safe Routes Partnership:
“The Safe Routes Partnership is so disappointed that Governor Newsom vetoed the Complete Streets for Active Living Bill into law. As SB 127 made its way through the legislative process, it became clear that legislators understood this bill would create safe routes for everyone when Caltrans repaired state highways in populated areas. This legislation was a common-sense and cost-effective way to get more kids and families walking and biking to school safely when those schools are located next to state highways.”

COMPLETE STREETS BACKGROUND

In California from 2007-2013, nearly 1.7 million people were injured in traffic incidents, including 95,758 while walking along or across the street. In those crashes, 22,117 people were killed, with pedestrians accounting for one-fifth of the total persons killed. The problem is often concentrated around Caltrans roads that go through low-income neighborhoods where more people get around via transit, biking and walking.

Caltrans often claims to make streets safer when they repair them. But in practice, they prioritize fast traffic over the communities demanding more livable streets almost every single time. The Complete Streets for Active Living Bill would have brought safety improvements necessary to stop the killing and maiming on state-owned roads.

SB 127 Co-Sponsors:

California Bicycle Coalition, California Walks, American Heart Association, AARP, Safe Routes Partnership

Supporting Organizations:

350 Bay Area Action, 350 Silicon Valley, Active SGV, American Lung Association in California , Alameda County Transportation Commission, Berkeley Climate Hub, Bicycling Monterey, Bike Bakersfield, Bike Concord, Bike East Bay, Bike San Diego, Bike Santa Cruz County, Bike SLO County, BikeVentura, California Alliance for Retired Americans, California City Transportation Initiative/NACTO, California Democratic Party, California Interfaith Power & Light, California Park and Recreation Society, California ReLeaf, CALSTART Inc., CALPIRG, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Stockton, Cedars, Center for Climate Change and Health, Central California Asthma Collaborative, City Heights Community Development Corp., City of Encinitas, City of Half Moon Bay, City of Long Beach, City of Los Angeles, City of Oakland, City of Sacramento, City and County of San Francisco, City of Santa Monica, City of San Luis Obispo, Climate Action Campaign, ClimatePlan, Climate Resolve, Coalition for Clean Air, Coalition for Sustainable Transportation-Santa Barbara, Coalition for Responsible Transportation Priorities, Costa Mesa Alliance for Better Streets, Compton Unified School District, Cultiva La Salud, Davis Bike Club, Day One, East Bay Recreational Park District, Elders Climate Action (NorCal), Environment California, Fossil Free California, Inland Empire Biking Alliance, Investing in Place, Latino Coalition for a Healthy California, La Verne Bicycle Coalition, Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, Local Government Commission, Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, Los Angeles Walks, Lyft Inc., Marin County Bicycle Coalition, Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, Move LA, Napa County Bicycle Coalition, Natural Resources Defense Council, Office of Mayor London Breed – San Francisco, Orange County Bicycle Coalition, Office of the Mayor, San Francisco, Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition, Planning and Conservation League, PeopleforBikes, PolicyLink, Public Advocates, Redwood Community Action Agency, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, Rural Counties Representative of California, Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates, San Diego County Bicycle Coalition, San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, San Francisco Transportation Municipal Agency, San Francisco Department of Public Health, San Francisco Planning Department, SFBA Families for Safe Streets, Santa Monica Spoke, Save The Bay, Seamless Bay Area, Shasta Living Streets, Sierra Club California, Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, Silicon Valley Leadership Group, Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition, Sunflower Alliance, Transform, Transportation Agency for Monterey County, Trust for Public Land, Vision Zero Network, Walk Bike Berkeley, Walk & Bike Mendocino, Walk Oakland Bike Oakland, Walk Sacramento, Walk San Francisco, and Walk Long Beach.

Tell Your Assembly Member to Vote YES on SB 127 for Complete Streets

August 30, 2019/by Kevin Claxton

The Complete Streets for Active Living Bill (SB 127) passed two tough Assembly committees. Now, Caltrans is pulling out all the stops to defeat what may be the most important piece of legislation CalBike has ever sponsored.

The Complete Streets Bill will require Caltrans to add features that make streets safer for all users, such as protected bike lanes, when it repairs or repaves local streets. It will free thousands of Californians to get around by biking and walking, instead of being trapped in their cars.

The Complete Streets Bill could come up for a vote in the full Assembly any day now. That’s why we need you to tell your state Assembly Member vote YES on SB 127, the Complete Streets for Active Living Bill, today.

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Complete Streets Bill Passes Committee, Moves to Full House

August 30, 2019/by Kevin Claxton

For Immediate Release: Friday, August 30, 2019

Contact: Dave Snyder, CalBike 415-216-7393, dave@calbike.org

“Complete Streets” Bill Passes Assembly Appropriations Committee

SACRAMENTO: This afternoon, the Complete Streets for Active Living Bill (SB 127) championed by Senator Scott Wiener, passed out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee and now heads to an Assembly floor vote. The bill has already passed the State Senate.

This bill aims to ensure state roads that run through cities (e.g. 19th Avenue in San Francisco, Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles, or San Pablo Avenue in the East Bay) are safe for pedestrians and cyclists. The bill would mandate community involvement and default inclusion of bicycle and pedestrian safety improvements funded by the $4.3 billion State Highway Operations and Protection Program (SHOPP).

Dave Snyder, executive director of the California Bicycle Coalition, said:
“This shows that the Assembly Leadership understands the importance of holding Caltrans accountable to its promises of safety so that we taxpayers get better and safer roads for our tax dollars and not lip service and maintained deathtraps.”

Complete Streets Bill Passes Assembly Transportation Committee

July 9, 2019/by Laura McCamy

The Complete Streets for Active Living Bill (SB 127) passed the Assembly Transportation Committee July 8. This was a hard-won victory. CalBike and our coalition partners negotiated with and educated stakeholders and potential opponents up until the moment of the vote. In the end, the difference was the 1,000+ CalBike members and supporters who contacted their Assembly Member and asked for their yes vote. That pressure turned almost every committee member we counted as a maybe vote into a yes. SB 127 passed with 10 votes – two more than the eight we needed.

Caltrans controls some of the biggest and most direct streets that run through our local communities. Too often, Caltrans has refused to upgrade these streets to better serve the people who walk and bike on them, even when they’re repaving them or repairing them anyway. CalBike’s Complete Streets Bill will change that. If it becomes law, it will require Caltrans, by default, to add Complete Streets design elements every time it repairs or repaves a state route that also serves as a local street.

We are nearing the finish line. But the fight for Complete Streets for all Californians is not over. The Complete Streets Bill still has to pass the Assembly Appropriations Committee and the full Assembly. After that, it has to be signed by Governor Newsom.

This is the team of safe streets advocates, special guest witnesses, and Capitol staffers whose hard work — bolstered by pressure from CalBike members — helped to win the vote at the Assembly Transportation Committee.

This bill is the most important legislation that CalBike has worked on since we established the nation’s first Safe Routes to School program in 1999. If it becomes law, the Complete Streets Bill will save lives and make our cities and towns more livable. We need to keep the pressure up on our representatives every step of the way. We’re counting on you to help us succeed. Donate today to help the Complete Streets Bill get across the finish line.

CalBike Members Score Complete Streets Victory

May 16, 2019/by Laura McCamy

On May 13, the CalBike Complete Streets for Active Living Bill (SB 127) was going nowhere. It had been placed on the “suspense file” in the Appropriations Committee. The bill would require Caltrans to make state-controlled city streets safe for people to walk and bike, not just places for fast-moving cars and trucks, when they repaired or repaved streets.

Senators Portantino and Atkins had the power to move SB 127 forward or squash it. Questions about the costs of Complete Streets safety improvements threatened to derail the bill.

Then something amazing happened. We asked CalBike members and Complete Streets supporters from the districts of these two senators to call and email them. You responded and your senators listened. On May 16, at deadline, the Senators decided to move the the Complete Streets bill out of committee and to the Senate floor for a vote.

This is an inspiring example of the importance of speaking up for safe streets for everyone. Every one of us has the power to help bring Complete Streets to California state routes.

We can’t take a victory lap just yet. The Complete Streets bill will get a floor vote from the whole Senate in the next two weeks. We need to keep the pressure on all our state senators to support this important legislation. After that, we have to do it all over again in the Assembly, where the bill faces the challenging Transportation Committee.

Sign our Complete Streets petition to show your support and stay informed.

Find out more about Complete Streets here.

Don’t Let SB 127 Die: Call Now to Support the Complete Streets Bill

May 14, 2019/by Laura McCamy

The Complete Streets for Active Living Bill (SB 127) has reached a crucial point in its journey through the Senate. It has landed in the Senate Appropriations Committee. This is where the fiscal impact of bills is assessed. Yesterday, SB 127 was placed on the “suspense file,” which means the bill is on hold because of “unknown significant costs.” But, if enough people call and support Complete Streets, we can get this important legislation back on track.

A bill can die in Appropriations, if there is not enough political will to push it through. By Thursday, May 15th, we need to convey to Senate leadership that the benefits of the proposal outweigh the costs. It’s hard to put a price tag on the value of the lives saved and injuries prevented by Complete Streets features. Now is the time to voice your support for Complete Streets on Caltrans-controlled city streets.

The senators responsible for moving bills forward in the Appropriations Committee have the power to move the Complete Streets Bill forward, but the timeline is tight. The bill needs to come off of the suspense file before a hearing this Thursday, May 16th.

Your senators need to hear that you support Complete Streets. Please email or call these two senators today.

Contact Appropriations Committee Chair Senator Anthony Portantino TODAY

Contact Senate President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins TODAY

Complete Streets Clears an Important Milestone

April 26, 2019/by Laura McCamy

The Complete Streets for Active Living Bill is moving forward after a long and contentious hearing in the Senate Transportation Committee. Thanks to unwavering commitment by our team and the bill’s author, Senator Scott Wiener, SB 127 the bill passed on a 9-3 vote and will move to the Senate floor in May with its strongest provisions intact.

SB 127 addresses the safety problems on major streets in cities across California that are owned and controlled by Caltrans. They are considered state highways, but they are very different from separated freeways. They run through residential and commercial districts, past parks and schools. Yet Caltrans manages these streets with the priority of moving cars fast, not the safety or livability for the people in the community.

“This is a very big victory for us,” says CalBike senior policy advocate Linda Khamoushian. “Now, we’re in full forward movement.”

Pacific Coast Highway blocks bikes from beach access

The Pacific Coast Highway is a lovely route along the beach in many Southern California cities. But, since it’s controlled by Caltrans, sections like the bridge over Anaheim Bay give provide bike facilities that are poorly designed and dangerous to ride.

Rock Miller is a bikeway designer who designed some of the first Class IV protected bike lanes in California. When he was tasked with making the bridge more friendly to bike riders, he rode it himself.

“The bridge has bike lanes on it, but the traffic travels at 65 mph+. The bike lanes are very narrow,” Miller says. “It’s about as scared as I’ve ever been bike riding.” Given the constraints of the project, a solution has been elusive.

Miller sees outmoded Caltrans standards as part of the problem. “They still aren’t comfortable with a lane as narrow as a city would implement,” he says. He adds that, while Caltrans is part of groups setting state policies about Complete Streets, “they’re not applying them to their own facilities.”

The Complete Streets for Active Living Bill will fix that.

The goal of the Complete Streets for Active Living Bill

Caltrans’ own policy has long required the department to “consider” including accommodations for bike and pedestrian access. Unfortunately, Caltrans planners routinely consider, and then quickly dismiss, such upgrades. Because there’s no transparency in Caltrans’ planning process, advocates can’t see and respond to the agency’s objections to creating Complete Streets.

SB 127 will bring accountability and transparency to the Caltrans planning and implementation process for the parts of state highways that actually serve as local streets. This important bill will force Caltrans to expand its focus beyond auto and truck traffic at a faster rate than is currently underway. It expands the definition of safety safety to include protection for the most vulnerable road users: pedestrians and bicyclists. It also allows for more stakeholder engagement on each SHOPP project in order to ensure the community’s input is sufficiently accounted for from project scoping and design to implementation.

What’s next for the Complete Streets bill?

“We were able to preserve the strength of the bill through the intensive Policy Committee process,” Khamoushian says. “It’s still uphill. It’s like getting to base camp – now we have to climb the hill.”

As the bill moves on to the Senate Appropriations Committee where the fiscal impact will be assessed, and then onto the Senate Floor for a full Senate vote, CalBike is working with legislators and our advocacy partners, California Walks, Safe Routes to School National Partnership, and the American Heart Association on next steps.

What you can do to support Complete Streets

Getting SB 127 out of committee was an important first step, but there is much more work to do to bring Complete Streets to all city streets. Here’s how you can help:

Call your state senator and ask them to support SB 127. Explain why this bill is important to you. You can find your state representatives here.
Your experiences help us tell the story of why SB 127 is so crucial. What is it like to ride the state route or routes that run through your city? What changes are needed? How would those changes benefit your city? Send your stories to policy@calbike.org.
Sign our petition to support Complete Streets.

Find out more about CalBike’s Complete Streets initiative and read the text of SB 127.

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