California

It's scorecard season in California. Advocacy groups are giving grades to legislators based on how they voted on bills in the last year's sessions, and releasing the scores just in time to influence next week's election.

You may have seen the ads on Facebook, or on one of the roving billboards being pulled by a gasoline-powered truck. They warned darkly of a coming "hidden tax" on fuel that was so hidden nobody in the media was talking about it. You may have wondered what it meant, even as the ads urged you to sign a petition today.

Congratulations to several California colleges that won 2014 Bicycle Friendly University (BFU) awards from the League of American Bicyclists. Thirteen California colleges have made the list in the last few years.

Editor's note: Here's the California Bicycle Coalition's (CalBike) post-session wrap-up of its efforts to promote bicycling through state legislation, authored by CalBike's Ryan Price. It was originally posted on CalBike's website. We edited it slightly for length.

Earlier this week, I attended a California Sustainable Transportation Funding Workshop, hosted by Caltrans, Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), the California Transportation Commission (CTC), and the Mileage-Based User Fee Alliance (MBUFA). The half-day program focused on how the state of California could shift from our current gas tax funding stream to one based on a per-mile fee.

Agreeing on a new way to measure transportation impacts -- and not just delays for drivers -- is no simple task for California's planning policymakers.

In the last hours before the deadline for signing legislation from this year’s legislative session, California Governor Jerry Brown vetoed a batch of bills that could have improved safety for bicyclists, pedestrians, and other road users.

Governor Jerry Brown vetoed one of four hit-and-run bills passed by the California Senate and Assembly. A.B. 2337, by Assemblymember Eric Linder (R-Corona), would have increased the automatic driver’s license suspension for a hit-and-run conviction from one to two years.

Governor Jerry Brown signed two bills on Saturday that will make it easier for California cities to build better bike infrastructure.