City advocacy secures major changes to transportation permitting bill

By Damon Conklin, legislative advocate (transportation)

It’s not unusual for a bill to undergo several drastic iterations as stakeholders play “whack-a-mole” at each twist and turn of the legislative process. One such bill this year is SB 445 (Wiener), a permitting bill that several cities have weighed in on — with great success.

First introduced to “contain costs and cut delays on delivering major public transportation projects,” the measure originally sought to bypass local permitting processes for “sustainable” transportation projects. This would have included everything from adding bike lanes and restriping to larger developments.

Cal Cities expressed concerns about the proposal and the potential for uncoordinated infrastructure development to compromise safety standards. The bill’s primary concern was not derived from a report, study, or even a survey. (The Legislature did produce a permitting reform report earlier this year, which did not support the language in SB 445.)

In response, the author withdrew the language and advanced the bill as an empty vehicle with only “intent language”— and a promise to work with stakeholders to address their concerns if it moved forward. Then SB 445 did move forward, through and out of the Senate and into the Assembly, where it was significantly amended.

The new language proposed an astonishing new state-controlled permitting scheme that would have severely restricted cities’ ability to manage their own public rights-of-way and infrastructure systems. Cal Cities voiced strong opposition, along with several cities across the state. They detailed how the bill would adversely affect their local streets and roads.

One city highlighted how some applicants for transportation projects in the right-of-way wanted to pave over several city manholes. In another project, the applicant insisted, to reduce costs, on only providing a single thru lane in each direction when an additional lane was needed to provide emergency vehicle access and better overall operations of the roadway. The bill would have given those applicants the final say in how the development would be built.

With only days remaining, key legislators forced new amendments to SB 445 in response to city advocacy. The latest version empowers only the California High-Speed Rail Authority to create uniform permitting regulations to try to keep its projects on schedule.

Although significantly narrowed down, SB 445 still has some problems that Cal Cities will work with the author to address. These changes would not have been possible without the combined strength of Cal Cities’ members and their voices.