Recent Streetsblog LA posts about Streetsblog CA

The court ruled that California's cap-and-trade system involves voluntary participation and the purchase of a commodity with value—neither of which are “the hallmarks of a tax.”

There are a lot of good things in S.B. 1, including raising gas taxes to better reflect how much wear and tear vehicles actually impose on California roads. But then there's that dirty truck amendment.

More than 15,000 people came out to bike and walk in Garden Grove's Open Streets event on Saturday. The 2.5-mile route stretched from Main Street to West Street and had some streets closed to cars, streets with mixed traffic, and a one-mile pop-up protected bike lane.

A fix to a late amendment wasn't enough for environmental justice advocates, and the Republicans--well, their support is irrelevant. But the rush to pass S.B. 1 is hampering what could be a very good transportation funding bill.

A last-minute amendment exempting trucks from air quality rules threatens to poison an otherwise strong[er] transportation funding bill. The political calculus to get 2/3 vote makes this kind of amendment a risk.

“We have an ongoing discussion in this state that needs to be resolved,” said ARB chair Mary Nichols. “Whenever you add capacity to existing roads, it does create induced demand, and it fills up immediately.”