Bill Text: CA AB7 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended


Bill Title: Transportation: planning: project selection processes.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Engrossed) 2023-09-11 - Ordered to inactive file at the request of Senator Blakespear. [AB7 Detail]

Download: California-2023-AB7-Amended.html

Amended  IN  Senate  September 01, 2023
Amended  IN  Senate  June 28, 2023
Amended  IN  Assembly  May 25, 2023
Amended  IN  Assembly  March 16, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 7


Introduced by Assembly Member Friedman

December 05, 2022


An act to amend Section 65072 of, and to add Section 13985 to, the Government Code, relating to transportation.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 7, as amended, Friedman. Transportation: planning: project selection processes.
(1) Existing law establishes within state government the Transportation Agency, which consists of the Department of the California Highway Patrol, the California Transportation Commission, the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Department of Transportation, the High-Speed Rail Authority, and the Board of Pilot Commissioners for the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun. The agency is under the supervision of the Secretary of Transportation, who has the power of general supervision over each department within the agency. The secretary, among other duties, is charged with developing and reporting to the Governor on legislative, budgetary, and administrative programs to accomplish coordinated planning and policy formulation in matters of public interest, including transportation projects.
On and after January 1, 2025, and to the extent applicable applicable, feasible, and cost effective, this bill would require the agency, the Department of Transportation, and the California Transportation Commission to incorporate specified principles into their existing goals into program funding guidelines and processes.
(2) Existing law requires the Department of Transportation to prepare the California Transportation Plan for submission to the Governor and the Legislature, to complete the 3rd update to the plan by December 31, 2025, and to update the plan every 5 years thereafter, as a long-range planning document that incorporates various elements and is consistent with specified expressions of legislative intent.
This bill would require the California Transportation plan to include a financial element, as specified, and, to the extent applicable, applicable and feasible, an analysis of how certain entities are achieving principles outlined in the Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure, the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, and the federal Justice40 initiative, as provided.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all the following:
(a) State transportation accounts for approximately $30,000,000,000 of spending between state and local funds annually, and contributes approximately 40 percent of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions.
(b) President Biden’s Executive Order No. 14052 (E.O. 14052), titled “Implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act” (IIJA), says that the IIJA is “a once-in-a-generation investment in our Nation’s infrastructure and competitiveness.” E.O. 14052 also says that the programs and funding enabled through IIJA will “help rebuild America’s roads, bridges, and rails; expand access to clean drinking water; work to ensure access to high-speed internet throughout the Nation; tackle the climate crisis; advance environmental justice; and invest in communities that have too often been left behind” and that it will “accomplish all of this while driving the creation of good-paying union jobs and growing the economy sustainably and equitably for decades to come.”
(c) Under Governor Gavin Newsom’s Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure (CAPTI), California is committed to investing billions of discretionary transportation dollars to combat and adapt to climate change while supporting other vital state goals, including the economy, the environment, quality of life, public health, high-quality resilient infrastructure, safety, accessibility, and equity.

SEC. 2.

 Section 65072 of the Government Code is amended to read:

65072.
 The California Transportation Plan shall include all of the following:
(a) A policy element that describes the state’s transportation policies and system performance objectives. These policies and objectives shall be consistent with legislative intent described in Sections 14000, 14000.5, 14000.6, and 65088.
(b) A strategies element that shall incorporate the broad system concepts and strategies synthesized from the adopted regional transportation plans prepared pursuant to Section 65080. The California Transportation Plan shall not be project specific.
(c) A financial element that summarizes the full cost of the implementation of the California Transportation Plan, a summary of available revenues through the planning period, and an analysis of what is feasible within the plan if constrained by a realistic projection of available revenues. The financial element shall also evaluate the feasibility of any policy assumptions or scenarios included in the plan. The financial element may include a discussion of tradeoffs within the plan considering financial constraints.
(d) To the extent applicable, applicable and feasible, an analysis of how the Transportation Agency, Department of Transportation, and California Transportation Commission are achieving principles outlined in the Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure, the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-58), and the federal Justice40 initiative. At a minimum, the analysis shall include both of the following:

(1)A list of example projects completed under each applicable program.

(2)

(1) How the program advances the priorities identified by the Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure, the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-58), and the federal Justice40 initiative, as applicable.

(3)

(2) The percentage of the program’s funds program funds included in the Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure that benefit disadvantaged communities.
(e) A recommendations element that includes economic forecasts and recommendations to the Legislature and the Governor to achieve the plan’s broad system concepts, strategies, and performance objectives.

SEC. 3.

 Section 13985 is added to the Government Code, to read:

13985.
 On and after January 1, 2025, to the extent applicable applicable, feasible, and cost effective, the Transportation Agency, Department of Transportation, and California Transportation Commission shall incorporate the following goals related to the Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure adopted by the Transportation Agency into their existing program funding guidelines and planning processes the following principles: processes:

(a)Building toward an integrated, statewide rail and transit network, centered around the existing California State Rail Plan, that leverages the California Integrated Travel Project to provide seamless, affordable, multimodal travel options in all contexts, including suburban and rural settings, to all users.

(b)Investing in networks of safe and accessible bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, particularly by closing gaps on portions of the state highway system that intersect local active transportation and transit networks or serve as small town or rural main streets, with a focus on investments in low-income and disadvantaged communities throughout the state.

(c)Including investments in light-, medium-, and heavy-duty zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) infrastructure as part of larger transportation projects. Supporting the innovation in and development of the ZEV market and help ensure ZEVs are accessible to all, particularly to those in more rural or remote communities.

(d)Strengthening our commitment to social and racial equity by reducing public health and economic harms and maximizing community benefits to disproportionately impacted disadvantaged communities, low-income communities, and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities in urbanized and rural regions, and involving these communities early in decisionmaking. Investments should also avoid placing new or exacerbating existing burdens on these communities, even if unintentional.

(e)Making safety improvements to reduce fatalities and severe injuries of all users towards zero on our roadways, railways, and transit systems by focusing on context-appropriate speeds, prioritizing vulnerable user safety to support mode shift, designing roadways to accommodate for potential human error and injury tolerances, and ultimately implementing a safe systems approach.

(f)Assessing physical climate risk as standard practice for transportation infrastructure projects to enable informed decisionmaking, especially in communities that are most vulnerable to climate-related health and safety risks.

(g)Promoting projects that do not significantly increase passenger vehicle travel, particularly in congested urbanized settings where other mobility options can be provided and where projects are shown to induce significant auto travel. These projects should generally aim to reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and not induce significant VMT growth. When addressing congestion, consider alternatives to highway capacity expansion, such as providing multimodal options in the corridor, employing pricing strategies, and using technology to optimize operations.

(h)Promoting compact infill development while protecting residents and businesses from displacement by funding transportation projects that support housing for low-income residents near job centers, provide walkable communities, and address affordability to reduce the housing-transportation cost burden and auto trips.

(i)Developing a zero-emission freight transportation system that avoids and mitigates environmental justice impacts, reduces criteria and toxic air pollutants, improves freight’s economic competitiveness and efficiency, and integrates multimodal design and planning into infrastructure development on freight corridors.

(j)Protecting natural and working lands from conversion to more intensified uses and enhance biodiversity by supporting local and regional conservation planning that focuses development where it already exists and aligns transportation investments with conservation priorities to reduce transportation’s impact on the natural environment.

(a) Build toward an integrated, statewide rail and transit network.
(b) Invest in networks of safe and accessible bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure.
(c) Include investments in light-, medium-, and heavy-duty zero-emission vehicle infrastructure.
(d) Develop a zero-emission freight transportation system.
(e) Reduce public health and economic harms and maximize community benefits.
(f) Make safe improvements to reduce fatalities and severe injuries of all users toward zero.
(g) Assess and integrate assessments of physical climate risk.
(h) Promote projects that do not significantly increase passenger vehicle travel.
(i) Promote compact infill development while protecting residents and businesses from displacement.
(j) Protect natural and working lands.

feedback