Damien Newton

SB 910 Veto Message

Bicycling superstar Lance Armstrong and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa have joined forces again.  Their target: Governor Jerry Brown.  Their message: sign S.B. 910, the state's three foot passing law that would protect cyclists from drivers who pass too close and too fast.

The California State Assembly joined the Senate in passing S.B. 910 yesterday by an overwhelming 41-20 vote. S.B. 910 would require motorists to give bicyclists a three foot cushion when passing at miles in excess of fifteen miles an hour. The legislation needs re-approval by the Senate, something that occurs 99 percent of the time, because of some technical changes that occurred in the Assembly at the request of the bill's author, Senator Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach). From there it will await a signature from Governor Jerry Brown.

This Friday, S.B. 910, the Three Feet Passing Law authored by Senator Alan Lowenthal (D-LB) heads to the Assembly Floor. S.B. 910 has been passing committees and the full Assembly by mostly party-line votes, but that doesn't mean that passage is assured in two days. The California Bicycle Coalition has a sample letter to email Assembly Members in advance of Friday's hearing.

A series of amendments proposed by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) to SB 791 would lower the threshold of voter approval for new taxes to fund transportation improvements from 67 percent to 50 percent.

Conservative congressional leaders have had bicycle and pedestrian projects in their cross hairs for years. This has led to some serious policy concerns, such as a Republican bill to reauthorize the transportation trust fund that has no bicycle or pedestrian funds. And less serious ones, such as online polls designed to create populist anger against green transportation spending.

Last week Streetsblog LA talked with UCLA Professor and parking guru Donald Shoup about ExpressPark, the new parking pricing system coming to downtown Los Angeles.

By the early afternoon of April 10, it was clear that CicLAvia had outgrown its original seven-and-a-half mile route. In the urban core of Downtown Los Angeles, bikes were packed so thick on the road that entire groups wouldn't make it through traffic signals and other road users were intimidated from using the street. Something had to change for the amazing car-free party to continue to attract new riders.

Sounding like a spokesperson for the Republican opposition to the bill, Governor Jerry Brown announced a veto last week of SB 582, citing the cost to small businesses. From his veto statement:

It's hardly a state secret that California's speed limit laws are designed to increase traffic speed at the expense of communities and urban design. AB 529, a hot piece of state legislation by Assemblymember Mike Gatto that already quietly cleared the lower house, seeks to give communities a little more leeway in setting local speed limits. The Senate has yet to assign the bill to committee, but Senate Transportation Committee staffers have told me they're expecting it "any day now."