Bill Text: CA SJR8 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Chaptered

California Senate Joint Resolution 8 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: California Nonmotorized Trails Master Plan.

Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 42-3)

Status: (Passed) 2017-09-07 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Res. Chapter 146, Statutes of 2017. [SJR8 Detail]

Download: California-2017-SJR8-Chaptered.html

Senate Joint Resolution No. 8

CHAPTER 146

Relative to the California Nonmotorized Trails Master Plan.

[ Filed with Secretary of State September 07, 2017. ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SJR 8, Allen. California Nonmotorized Trails Master Plan.

This measure would request the Governor to designate specified departments to accelerate the planning, creation, and completion timelines for a California Nonmotorized Trails Master Plan for urban and rural regions to expand specified opportunities for Californians. The measure would request the Governor to request the President of the United States, Members of Congress, and the Federal Highway Administration to dedicate increased funding to California to accelerate and support the planning and development of the plan and to accelerate the completion of existing nonmotorized recreational trails.

Fiscal Committee: NO

WHEREAS, California established significant greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for 2020 through the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 and for 2050 through Executive Order S-3-05; and

WHEREAS, In 1974, the California Recreational Trails Act was enacted to increase accessibility and enhance the use, enjoyment, and understanding of California’s scenic, natural, historic, and cultural resources; and

WHEREAS, The act and the California Recreational Trails System Plan, which is prepared and continuously maintained by the Department of Parks and Recreation pursuant to the act and in cooperation with the Department of Transportation, provides for both motorized and nonmotorized accessibility and use; and

WHEREAS, In order to help meet those greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, a California Nonmotorized Trails Master Plan is urgently needed to create a statewide plan and timeline for a coordinated network of California trails for walking, hiking, biking, horseback riding, and other forms of nonmotorized transportation in both urban and rural regions; and

WHEREAS, Human-powered, nonmotorized transportation can serve the dual purposes of providing healthy exercise for citizens and transporting them from one location to another with a zero-carbon footprint; and

WHEREAS, Many of California’s local entities, including municipalities, public agencies, private organizations, and individual citizens, are currently in the process of developing their own local trails master plans in their neighborhoods, cities, counties, or regions that are designed to create avenues for environmentally friendly methods of nonmotorized transportation and that are likely to expand rural economic development benefits and outcomes; and

WHEREAS, According to a 2014 report issued by the Governors Highway Safety Association, 338 cyclists were killed in collisions with motor vehicles in California between 2010 and 2012, the most in any state; and

WHEREAS, Other states, including New York, have found that a coordinated nonmotorized trails network offers myriad health benefits and valuable experiences, including hiking, biking, cross-country skiing, taking short nature walks, touring, including agricultural touring, exploring greenways, parklands, and rural agricultural lands, and other nonvehicular experiences in the unique settings of local communities, and that these related activities bring commercial opportunities to those communities; and

WHEREAS, The federal Recreational Trails Program is a Federal Highway Administration assistance program that provides federal funds to states to develop and maintain recreational trails in both urban and rural regions for motorized and nonmotorized recreational trail use; and

WHEREAS, California’s rural regions have limited access to networks of nonmotorized recreational trails; and

WHEREAS, There is currently no deadline to complete and connect the state’s many diverse and separate trails into a statewide coordinated nonmotorized transportation network in both urban and rural regions; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature requests the Governor to designate the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Department of Transportation, in partnership with the National Park Service and other relevant federal, state, regional, and local agencies, private organizations, and individual citizens, to accelerate the planning, creation, and completion timelines for a California Nonmotorized Trails Master Plan for urban and rural regions to expand opportunities for all Californians to benefit from new recreational, tourist, and economic development options in their daily lives, which will reduce the overall usage of fossil-fuel powered vehicles for public transportation and create a safer environment for pedestrians and bicyclists who use nonmotorized transportation trails networks to walk or ride; and be it further

Resolved, That the Legislature requests the Governor to request the President, Members of Congress, and the Federal Highway Administration, through its Recreational Trails Program, to dedicate increased funding to California to accelerate and support the planning and development of the California Nonmotorized Trails Master Plan as an expanded network of nonmotorized recreational trails in rural and urban regions of the state and to accelerate the completion of existing nonmotorized recreational trails, including the California Coastal Trail; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the Majority Leader of the Senate, to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States, and to the author for appropriate distribution.