Land Use

AB 52 (Gatto) – Neutral
Chapter 532, Statutes of 2014

AB 52, by Assembly Member Mike Gatto creates a new resource area under CEQA for tribal cultural resources and establishes a process for consultation between local governments and tribes on individual projects. CSAC initially opposed the bill and worked with a coalition of stakeholders over the past two years to successfully amend the measure to reduce our most significant concerns. Amendments taken include the addition of timelines for consultations, a requirement for tribes to dictates a single point of contact, and creation of more clear and limited definition of tribal cultural resource that does not put the burden on a local agency to determine what may or may not be significant to a tribe. Finally, the bill was amended to allow the confidential exchange of information between a tribe, project proponent and local government.

CSAC removed our opposition to the bill on August 25. The Governor signed AB 52 on September 25. CSAC will now shift to monitoring implementation of the measure, including revisions to the CEQA guidelines, and working to develop implementation guidance for counties.

Transportation

AB 1193 (Ting) – No Position
Chapter 495, Statutes of 2014

AB 1193, by Assembly Member Phil Ting, creates a new class of bikeway and offers new flexibility to local governments in adopting design standards for local bikeway facilities. The bill defines class IV bikeways, commonly known as cycle tracks or separated bikeways, as facilities which promote active transportation and provide a right-of-way designated exclusively for bicycle travel adjacent to a roadway and which are protected from vehicular traffic. The bill also requires the development of minimum safety criteria for each class of bikeway by January 2016, and allows local governments to continue to use Caltrans bike facility standards to help protect against litigation, or to adopt other standards that may be more appropriate for their individual communities.

CSAC did not take a position on this measure because of its permissive approach to local bicycle facility standards. The Governor signed AB 1193 on September 20.

SB 1151 – Support
Vetoed by the Governor

SB 1151, by Senator Anthony Cannella, would have imposed an additional thirty-five dollar fine on specified violations within zones posted with school warning signs and signs indicating increased fines. The additional fine revenue from these violations would have been allocated to the Active Transportation Program for the purpose of school zone safety projects. Counties, along with cities and public schools and districts, would have been eligible recipients of Active Transportation Program grant funds to improve safety around schools and promote alternative transportation options.

The Governor vetoed SB 1151 on September 19. In his message, the Governor argued that “increasing traffic fines as the method to pay transportation fund activities is a regressive increase that affects poor people disproportionately” and that other means should be used to improve school zone safety.

SB 1183 – Support 
Chapter 516, Statutes of 2014

SB 1183, by Senator Mark DeSaulnier, will allow until 2025 a city, county, or regional parks district to propose to the voters the imposition of a surcharge of up to five dollars on each vehicle registration to fund the construction or maintenance of paved or natural surface bikeways or trails, as well as bicycle parking infrastructure. The bill provides a new tool to fund off-road bike paths, which currently lack a stable funding source.

CSAC supported the bill since it will provide a potential funding source for several types of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure that are vital to creating a complete multi-modal network, but which occasionally have proven difficult to fund and maintain using existing revenue sources. The Governor signed SB 1183 on September 20.