Transportation

This measure would encourage relevant stakeholders to evaluate existing transportation programs, develop policy options, and consider pilot initiatives that improve reliable, affordable, and accessible transportation for individuals with epilepsy. The measure would also encourage coordination with federal partners and welcome the participation of advocacy groups in informing and advancing complementary state-federal strategies.

Existing law requires the Department of the California Highway Patrol to regulate the safe operation of certain vehicles, including, but not limited to, motortrucks of 3 or more axles that are more than 10,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating, truck tractors, and specified other motortrucks regulated by the department, the Department of Consumer Affairs, or the United States Secretary of Transportation. Existing law establishes the Office of Emergency Services within the office of the Governor and requires the office to be responsible for the state's emergency and disaster response services for natural, technological, or man-made disasters and emergencies. This bill would require the Office of Emergency Services, on or before January 1, 2028, to develop and post on its internet website an action plan for responding to electric commercial motor vehicle battery fires that covers specified topics, including best practices for reducing wildfire risk and mitigating the risk of battery reignition. The bill would require the office, in developing the action plan, to consult with certain stakeholders, including the Department of the California Highway Patrol, electric truck manufacturers, and labor organizations.

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA requires the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation to prepare, develop, and transmit to the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency for certification and adoption proposed revisions to the CEQA implementation guidelines to establish criteria for determining the significance of transportation impacts of projects within transit priority areas, and requires the criteria to promote the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the development of multimodal transportation networks, and a diversity of land uses. CEQA requires the office to recommend potential metrics, including, among other metrics, vehicle miles traveled, to measure these transportation impacts. This bill would require the Department of Transportation, in consultation with specified entities, to, on or before December 31, 2030, develop guidance on vehicle-miles-travel mitigation measures for transportation projects in nonmetropolitan counties, as provided. The bill would require the department to publish the guidance on its internet website and add the guidance as an addendum to the Transportation Analysis Framework and the Transportation Analysis under CEQA. The bill would specify that a transportation project for which the lead agency has issued a notice of preparation for the project's environmental impact report on or before December 31, 2031 is presumed to have a less than significant transportation impact as determined by the vehicle-miles-traveled metric if at least 70% of the project lies within one or more nonmetropolitan counties. Because the bill would impose additional duties on a lead agency in its analysis of significant transportation impacts, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

The Secretary of State is the chief elections officer of the state, and the Attorney General is the chief law officer of the state. Existing law requires a state or local agency that files or is served with an elections-related claim arising under federal law to provide written notice to the Secretary of State and the Attorney General within 3 court days. Existing law requires a state or local agency that intends to enter into a settlement, consent decree, or other court-approved agreement related to the claim to provide a draft copy of the settlement, consent decree, or agreement to the Secretary of State and the Attorney General at least 14 court days before entering into it. This bill would require a local agency, political subdivision, or elections official to provide notice to the Secretary of State and the Attorney General immediately, but no later than one calendar day, after becoming aware of any warrant, subpoena, or active law enforcement investigation pertaining to any election records or certified voting technology under their custody or control. The bill would authorize the Secretary of State or the Attorney General to intervene in, or initiate, any court proceedings to challenge a warrant or subpoena on any valid grounds or seek any other appropriate relief. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2030. By increasing the duties of local elections officials, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law requires that a housing development project, as defined, within a specified distance of a transit-oriented development stop, as defined, be an allowed use as a transit-oriented housing development on any site zoned for residential, mixed, or commercial development, if the development complies with certain, applicable requirements, as provided. Among these requirements, existing law prohibits a proposed development under these provisions from being located on sites where the development would require demolition of housing, or that was previously used for housing, that is subject to rent or price controls, as provided. This bill would additionally prohibit the development from being located on an existing parcel of land or site governed under the Mobilehome Residency Law, the Recreational Vehicle Park Occupancy Law, the Mobilehome Parks Act, or the Special Occupancy Parks Act. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law establishes the Department of Transportation and vests it with various powers and duties. This bill would require the department to create, on or before June 1, 2027, and with input from transit operators, the California Transit Stop Registry as a centralized, statewide dataset of standardized information regarding transit stops that includes, but is not limited to, each transit stop's name, location, available seating, and unique identifier, and information on whether the transit stop is sheltered, as specified. Existing law provides for the funding of public transit, including under the Mills-Alquist-Deddeh Act, also known as the Transportation Development Act. This bill would require a transit operator, as defined, on or before January 1, 2028, to (1) ensure that the name and location of each of its transit stops conforms with the name and location for the stop in the California Transit Stop Registry, (2) use a transit stop's unique identifier listed in the registry when publishing any dataset with stop information or during publication of agency open datasets, and (3) report, for inclusion in the California Transit Stop Registry, if each of its transit stops has seating and shelter. By requiring a transit operator to perform new duties, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Existing law, the California Bicycle Transportation Act, establishes 4 classifications of facilities, referred to as bikeways, that provide primarily for, and promote, bicycle travel. Existing law requires a person operating a bicycle, which includes an electric bicycle, upon a highway to ride the bicycle upon or astride a permanent and regular seat unless the bicycle was designed by the manufacturer to be ridden without a seat. Existing law requires a person riding as a passenger on a bicycle upon a highway to be upon or astride a seat attached to the bicycle, as specified. A violation of these provisions in punishable as an infraction. This bill would make those provisions applicable to the operation of a bicycle upon a Class I bikeway. By expanding an existing infraction, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Existing law prohibits a person from operating a commercial motor vehicle unless that person has in their immediate possession a valid commercial driver's license of the appropriate class. Existing law requires a person to pass a knowledge test and driving test for the operation of a commercial motor vehicle that complies with minimum federal standards, as specified, before being issued a commercial driver's license. This bill would require the Department of Motor Vehicles, before issuing or renewing a commercial driver's license, to verify the applicant's lawful presence in the United States, as specified. The bill would require the department to revoke any commercial driver's license issued to a person subsequently determined to be unlawfully present in the United States, as specified.

Existing law establishes the State Department of Education in state government, and vests the department with specified powers and duties relating to the state's public school system. Existing law establishes the Department of the California Highway Patrol, under the control of the Commissioner of the California Highway Patrol, within the Transportation Agency. Existing law requires the Department of the California Highway Patrol to develop statewide safety and training programs based on evidence-based practices for users of electric bicycles. This bill would require, on or before March 1, 2028, the State Department of Education, in consultation with the Department of the California Highway Patrol, to develop a standardized electric bicycle safety and training program for pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, as provided. In developing the program, the bill would authorize the State Department of Education and the Department of the California Highway Patrol to collaborate with local law enforcement agencies or local governments that have implemented electric bicycle training programs already to ensure the program reflects proven best practices. The bill would encourage local educational agencies and parent organizations to offer training demonstrations to pupils and parents on electric bicycle operations in collaboration with local law enforcement agencies or local governments, as specified.

Existing law authorizes a county satisfying specified conditions to establish a service authority for the abatement of abandoned vehicles and to impose a $1 vehicle registration fee for the abatement of abandoned vehicles. The fees imposed and the moneys received by the service authority from the Abandoned Vehicle Trust Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, can only be used for the abatement, removal, and disposal of abandoned, wrecked, dismantled, or inoperative vehicles from private or public property. The service authority is authorized to adopt an ordinance establishing procedures for the abatement, removal, and disposal, as a public nuisance, of an abandoned, wrecked, dismantled, or inoperative vehicle and for the recovery of costs. This bill, notwithstanding these provisions, would authorize the City of Laguna Woods to use the amount of abandoned vehicle abatement funds received from the fee imposed by the service authority that formerly operated in the County of Orange, and the interest accrued thereon, for purposes of enforcing provisions of this code on public highways. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the City of Laguna Woods.