This afternoon the California Assembly approved our three-foot passing bill by a 50-16 vote after a raucous debate that took nearly 30 minutes.
Next steps for Senate Bill 1464 include a vote -- largely procedural -- in the Senate to formally concur with the technical amendments made to the bill by the Assembly. Then SB 1464 goes to the Governor for his signature, probably right after Labor Day. Read more...
Assembly Bill 819, authored by Fremont Assemblymember Bob Wieckowski, will improve bikeway design in California by requiring Caltrans to implement an experimentation program for new designs.
The goal is to develop standards that permit protected bikeways and other safer designs that will attract everyone from the age of 8 to 80 to bicycling. Read more...
Environmental exemption for bike lanes approved
Pending a vote by the California Senate later this week, Gov. Jerry Brown will have the opportunity to sign legislation that will speed up bike lane projects throughout the state.
Assembly Bill 2245, authored by Santa Clarita Assemblymember Cameron Smyth, would exempt all bike lane projects throughout the state from environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act. We see this bill as a positive step in addressing the auto-oriented nature of CEQA, which has in the past stifled worthy bike lane projects that could help make bicycling safer, easier and more inviting to a larger share of Californians. Read more...
AROUND THE STATE
San Francisco Bay Area:
Bike commuter on BART train. Photo by San Francisco BIcycle Coalition
San Francisco:The San Francisco Airport Commission has OK'd San Francisco International Airport's plan to create a private bike sharing system for its employees. The system seeks to combine employee wellness with environmental stewardship. SFO will partner with New York-based Social Bicycles, a pioneer in GPS-enabled bike sharing that eliminates the use of costly centralized kiosks common to most bike sharing systems.
Bakersfield: Bob Smith, founder of the Bike Bakersfield advocacy organization,is running for a vacated seat on the Bakersfield City Council. The owner of an engineering and land surveying company, Smith said last month, "I've been working on stuff for the city, and think I can be more productive on the things I'm interested in from the inside."
Long Beach: This week the City of Long Beach awarded Tustin-based Bike Nation a contract to provide the city's bike sharing program. Bike Nation will invest $10 million in the project, with Long Beach providing space on public rights of way. The company recently launched Anaheim's bike sharing pilot program, as well as will open the bike sharing system in Los Angeles next year.
NATIONAL SCENE
California to decide federal bike-ped funding distribution
The new federal transportation bill known as MAP-21 eliminated dedicated funding for bicycling and pedestrian projects and programs, but gave the states more flexibility in how to allocate the funding it does receive. In the next few weeks, the Legislature, the Governor's Office, Business Transportation and Housing Agency, and Caltrans will decide how to spend California's annual $3.5 billion in federal funds. We're working with state and national transportation advocacy partners to demand that California preserve the funding levels in place before the MAP-21 reductions. Other organizations are encouraged to join this effort.
PEOPLE
Bike advocacy jobs in San Francisco
The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is hiring for four key positions: Policy Director, Bilingual (Spanish) Community Organizer, Membership Manager and Volunteer Coordinator. With 12,000 members, SFBC is one of the nation's largest bicycle advocacy organizations and one of San Francisco's most active and effective advocacy groups.
CALENDAR
National Women's Bicycling Summit
Sept. 13, 2012
Long Beach Hosted by the League of American Bicyclists and Association of Pedestrian & Bicycling Professionals
This first-ever summit, directly following the conclusion of Pro Walk/Pro Bike 2012, will help create a bike future where women of all backgrounds are equally represented on the streets and in the bicycling movement.Learn more...
Looking for an interesting ride or other bike-related event? Check out our website to see what's happening throughout California.
Bike advocacy jobs in San Francisco
