Legislation & Implementation

With the end of the 2017-2018 legislative session, it’s an opportune moment to review the fortunes of some of the bills we have supported this year.

Hundreds of applications were submitted for the recent Cycle 4 of the Active Transportation Program (ATP), and only a small percentage will be successful.  Our new publication, California’s Active Transportation Program: A Step-by-Step Guide to the Application Process, can help you work through the process. This 22-page document offers a road map to all five application categories of the ATP in a digestible form.

SB 1 funded a variety of new programs, and the California Transportation Commission (CTC) is having workshops to get input on the guidelines for two of these programs:

Bay Area voters have passed Regional Measure 3 by 54% across the nine counties of the Bay Area. The Safe Routes Partnership endorsed RM 3, which will increase revenue from bridge tolls to support $4.5 billion in investments needed to improve quality of life and will connect BART and other commuter rail services, including via Safe Routes to Transit.

We co-sponsored SB 760 under author Senator Wiener, which would have required the State Highway Operations and Protection Program (SHOPP) implement Complete Streets near critical locations. As we reported in January, it was scaled back due to concerns over the effort to repeal last year’s increase in the Gas Tax. While we plan to reintroduce a bill with similar objectives next session, Sen.

Last week, California voters supported equitable transportation, open space and climate spending by large margins at the ballot box.

The Safe Routes Partnership has been working with environmental justice groups, including the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice to raise awareness about the impact of freight and warehouses on the pollution levels and traffic safety of schools and neighborhoods throughout the Inland Empire and Southern California.

In early May, California Senior Policy Manager Jonathan Matz joined our partners in the Sustainable Communities for All coalition (SC4A) in Sacramento to lobby state lawmakers for an equitable portfolio of investments from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF). Among the programs SC4A would like to see funded from the GGRF this year are Urban Forestry and Urban Greening; the Low Income Home Weatherization Program; and transit passes for K-14 students in public education institutions.