Portantino Street Safety & Affordable Housing Bills Pass Assembly Committees
For Immediate Release: June 15, 2022
Contact: Lerna Shirinian, (818) 409-0400
Portantino Street Safety & Affordable Housing Bills Pass Assembly Committees
Sacramento, CA - Senate Bills 932 and 1067, two measures authored by State Senator Anthony J. Portantino (D – La Cañada Flintridge), passed Assembly committees today. SB 932, which would require California cities to take concrete steps to reduce traffic collisions and fatalities, passed the Assembly Local Government Committee. SB 1067, which is aimed at reducing California’s dependence on cars and help counteract housing affordability problems by cutting costs for tenants and developers, passed the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee.
“As an avid biker, it has been a tremendous benefit for me as a policy maker to reach out to the biking community to learn more and to collaborate on this important public safety and environmental effort,” stated Senator Portantino. “This bill is not just about cyclists, it’s about the safety of everyone using our streets. Data driven safety plans will improve our quality of life, save lives and encourage more people to walk and bike to their destinations. SB 932 is an important step forward in preventing injuries and fatalities and will yield positive change for our communities.”
Recent data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration documenting a nearly 20% increase in traffic fatalities in the first six months of 2021 highlights the need for SB 932. Though California has been part of a national trend to create safer streets, many cities lack data on how to address traffic violence, deaths caused by accident, serious injuries to pedestrians, cyclists, and other human-powered-transit users. In certain cities where the most dangerous streets and corridors have been identified, no plans exist to remedy these deadly situations.
SB 932 requires a county or city to include a map of the high injury network in its General Plan and would further require a county or city to identify and prioritize safety improvements that would address serious and injurious traffic collisions. The bill would increase or decrease the 15-year implementation period, based on whether the measures introduced by a county or city achieve results to reduce percentages of traffic violence. It would also create an annual grant program to award funding to cities and counties that implement timely and effective short-term efforts to mitigate bicycle, pedestrian, and other human-powered transportation injuries and fatalities.
"We are happy to see SB 932 pass the Assembly Local Government Committee today. Californians are losing more than record amounts of time stuck in traffic. They are losing the very air they breathe-- passenger vehicles remain the single biggest contributor to greenhouse gases in the State. They are losing their lives-- fatalities from car crashes up nearly 20% in California. Cities must do their part to encourage safer driving and mass mode shift to ensure all Californians can use the mode of transportation that works for them without fearing for their safety. Neither our traffic violence nor climate crises will improve until cities large and small begin to incentivize sustainable modes of transportation. We are proud sponsors of SB 932 for its use of reasonable mandates and attractive incentives to move cities to act to provide Californians the safe, clean, and efficient transportation options they deserve,” stated Bubba Fish, Legislative Advocate at Streets for All.
SB 932 has garnered an impressive list of supporters, including Streets For All, ActiveSGV, CalBike, and Streets Are For Everyone.
Senator Portantino also authored SB 1067 in order to provide sensible solutions towards the relaxation of parking minimums, which currently require private property owners to provide and maintain a certain number of off-street parking spaces. This imposes significant financial, environmental, and social costs to cities.
SB 1067, which puts a premium on affordability while prohibiting a city from imposing minimum parking requirement on a housing development project that is located within half a mile of public transit and meet certain criteria. Specifically, a project must either dedicate 20% of their units to low-income to moderate income households, the elderly, students or persons with disabilities; or the developer must be able to demonstrate that the development would not have a negative impact on housing needs or existing parking.
“This measure eliminates parking minimums close to public transit, lessens California’s dependence on cars, and encourages bicycling and walking, while increasing our stock of affordable and workforce housing,” stated Senator Portantino. “While California needs housing across the financial spectrum, it needs to prioritize affordable and workforce housing. I was happy to collaborate with market rate housing supporters, local governments and civil rights groups on this important public policy goal,” concluded Senator Portantino.
Senator Portantino is a former Mayor and Councilmember who worked for safer streets while in local government. SB 932 continues those efforts but with an even more personal story. Like many Californians, he used the isolation of the pandemic to improve his own health. Over the past 18 months, the Senator has become an avid and almost daily bike rider both in Sacramento and across the 25th State Senate District.
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