Southern California

Last Monday, SB 127 (Wiener), the Complete Streets for Active Living Bill, passed the Assembly Transportation Committee.

SB 152 (Beall), which would have radically restructured the Active Transportation Program and to which we announced our opposition last month, failed to pass the Senate Appropriations Committee last week.

We are pleased with the continued progress of SB 127 (Wiener), the Complete Streets bill we are co-sponsoring along with California Walks, the California Bicycle Coalition and the American Heart Association. The bill has now passed out of the Senate Transportation and Appropriations committees. In the process, we have agreed to amendments that removed our proposed reordering of the State Highway Account’s priorities.

The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) hosted their annual General Assembly on May 1st in Palm Desert, CA. Themed Beyond Boundaries, the conference drew representatives from 191 cities and six counties and included topics centered on micro mobility, technology opportunities from the green economy, and unleashing the power of data.

Earlier this month, the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) released Draft Community Air Monitoring Plans (CAMP) for each of the three AB 617 Southern California areas (Boyle Heights, Muscoy, and West Long Beach). This is the first step in identifying ways to mitigate air pollution issues in these communities.

In other legislative news, we are getting ready to testify in the Senate Transportation Committee in favor of SB 127, the Complete Streets for All Bill. We plan to publish amendments before the hearing further clarifying which corridors of the state highway network are affected by the bill.

Late last month, State Senator Jim Beall (District 15, Santa Clara) introduced SB 152, which would radically restructure the Active Transportation Program, reducing the statewide component to 10% from its current 50% while increasing the Metropolitan Planning Organization component from 40% to 75% and the Small Urban and Rural component from 10%-15%.