California Council on the Future of Transportation: advisory committee: autonomous vehicle technology.

Existing law establishes the Transportation Agency, which consists of various departments and state entities including the California Transportation Commission and the Department of Transportation. Under existing law, the agency is under the supervision of an executive officer known as the Secretary of Transportation, who is required to develop and report to the Governor on legislative, budgetary, and administrative programs to accomplish comprehensive, long-range, and coordinated planning and policy formulation in the matters of public interest related to the agency. This bill would require the secretary to establish an advisory committee, the California Council on the Future of Transportation, to provide the Governor and the Legislature with recommendations for changes in state policy to ensure that as autonomous vehicles are deployed, they enhance the state's efforts to increase road and transit safety, promote equity, and meet public health and environmental objectives. The bill would require the council to be chaired by the secretary and consist of 23 additional members, selected by the chair or designated, as specified. The bill would require the council to gather and consider public comment on issues and concerns related to autonomous vehicles and to submit, no later than January 1, 2024, a report to the Legislature with, among other things, recommendations for statewide policy changes and updates, and to continue to update the report, or submit a new report, of its recommendations biennially thereafter, or more frequently at the secretary's discretion. The bill would require the council to create subcommittees focused on specific topics and to form one subcommittee led by the Office of Planning and Research focused on furthering the state's environmental, public health, and energy objectives, as specified. The bill would require this subcommittee to submit policy recommendations to the council and the Legislature by January 1, 2024, and to make those recommendations publicly available. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2035.