Streets and highways: pedestrian and bicycle facilities.

The bill text was reformatted from a traditional legislative document with line numbers and page headers into a web-based presentation format, adding site navigation elements (skip to content, home, accessibility, FAQ, etc.) and removing line-by-line numbering.

The prohibition on a city or county holding a community input meeting to reconsider, delay, or prevent a pedestrian or bicycle safety project now only applies after that project has passed 90 percent design. Previously the restriction applied as soon as the project was included in an approved circulation element of the general plan, regardless of design maturity.

The timing language for when a city or county is prohibited from terminating a pedestrian or bicycle safety project was changed from 'At a public meeting where a contract is awarded' to 'After or upon the award of a contract,' clarifying that the restriction takes effect at or after the moment of contract award rather than requiring a specific public meeting.

The legislative counsel's digest was reorganized: paragraph numbering was adjusted, the statewide concern findings paragraph was repositioned, and 'traffic calming' was consistently hyphenated to 'traffic-calming.' Page numbers shifted from 95 to 94 due to formatting changes.

All amendments to Government Code Sections 905 and 935 (claims procedures against local public entities) were removed from the bill entirely.

The Pedestrian Mall Law of 2026 is no longer a replacement for the 1960 law. Instead of repealing Part 1 (Section 11000), the bill now only adds Part 2 (Section 12000) as an alternative process, leaving the original 1960 procedures intact.

New authority for a city or county to establish a pedestrian mall on a state highway (or portion thereof) that functions as a main street, subject to Caltrans approval and compliance with the Pedestrian Mall Law of 2026 requirements.

The prohibition on community input meetings was narrowed to specifically target meetings held 'to reconsider, delay, or prevent implementation' of a project, rather than any meeting to gather public input on the project after plan inclusion.

The threshold for terminating a pedestrian or bicycle safety project after contract award or construction direction was lowered from making 'specified findings' (plural) to making 'at least one specified finding' (singular).

A provision stating that no state reimbursement is required for certain mandates was removed, leaving only the standard mandate reimbursement language.

The definition of 'pedestrian mall' in Section 21080.25 now references both Section 11006 (the 1960 law) and Section 12006 (the new 2026 law), reflecting the dual-track approach.

The bill was expanded from a single nonsubstantive amendment to Vehicle Code Section 21102 (school ground street closures) into a multi-code bill amending the Government Code, Public Resources Code, Streets and Highways Code, and Vehicle Code, covering pedestrian malls, CEQA exemptions, project delivery protections, and traffic calming petition limits.

The Pedestrian Mall Law of 1960 is repealed and replaced with the Pedestrian Mall Law of 2026. The new law eliminates the old requirement that proceedings be terminated if owners representing a majority of frontage on the proposed mall file written objections, removing a de facto property owner veto over pedestrian mall establishment.

The new Pedestrian Mall Law of 2026 authorizes private businesses to use a pedestrian mall and make improvements to it, and prohibits vehicular parking facilities from being included as improvements. It also declares that establishing a pedestrian mall is consistent with the public access requirements of the California Coastal Act of 1976.

Section 21080.25 of the Public Resources Code is amended to add 'the establishment or expansion of a pedestrian mall' as a new CEQA exemption (paragraph (12) of subdivision (b)), meaning pedestrian mall projects will not require an environmental impact report if they meet the applicable criteria for exempt transportation projects.

The bill includes legislative findings declaring that its provisions address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair, making them applicable to all cities including charter cities, which would otherwise have the power to opt out of state law on local matters.

New Sections 992 and 1814 prohibit counties and cities from holding community input meetings on pedestrian or bicycle safety projects after those projects are included in an approved circulation element of the general plan, effectively ending a common tactic to delay already-approved projects.

New Sections 993 and 1815 prohibit counties and cities from terminating a pedestrian or bicycle safety project after contract award or construction direction unless the governing body makes two findings at a public meeting by a preponderance of the evidence: (1) the public benefit of not delivering the project outweighs the safety benefit, and (2) the cost cannot be funded given the applicable budget.

New Sections 994 and 1816 cap petition signature requirements for traffic calming measures at no more than a majority of residents whose homes are within 1,000 feet of the proposed measure, preventing local governments from setting supermajority or other higher thresholds.

The new Pedestrian Mall Law of 2026 eliminates the authority to levy special ad valorem assessments for maintenance, operation, repair, or improvement of a pedestrian mall, and eliminates the provisions establishing a process to pay damages to property owners who suffer legal damage from mall establishment.

The fiscal notes changed from 'Fiscal committee: no' and 'State-mandated local program: no' to 'Fiscal committee: yes' and 'State-mandated local program: yes,' reflecting that the expanded bill imposes new duties on local agencies that may trigger state reimbursement obligations.

A definition of 'pedestrian mall' is added to Public Resources Code Section 21080.25, cross-referencing the new Streets and Highways Code Section 11006, which defines it as one or more city streets on which vehicular traffic is restricted in whole or in part and which is used exclusively or primarily for pedestrian travel.

The amendment to Vehicle Code Section 21102 regarding closures of streets crossing school grounds was removed entirely from the bill, narrowing its scope to focus solely on pedestrian and bicycle facilities and pedestrian malls.

A new CEQA exemption (paragraph 12 of Section 21080.25(b)) was added for 'the establishment or expansion of a pedestrian mall,' allowing such projects to bypass the full environmental review process under CEQA, subject to conditions like being carried out by a local agency as lead agency.

The exemption in Government Code Section 905 that carved out claims governed by the Pedestrian Mall Law of 1960 from standard claims presentation procedures was removed. Claims under the new Pedestrian Mall Law of 2026 will now follow the standard local public entity claims process.

The fiscal notes changed from 'Fiscal committee: no' and 'State-mandated local program: no' to 'yes' for both, indicating the bill now imposes costs on local agencies (likely because lead agencies must determine whether projects qualify for the new CEQA pedestrian mall exemption).

The provision authorizing local authorities with slow streets programs to set prima facie speed limits on program streets without conducting an engineering and traffic survey was removed from the bill entirely.

The bill now adds Part 2 (commencing with Section 12000) of Division 13 of the Streets and Highways Code in addition to the existing Part 1 (Section 11000+), creating a new parallel statutory framework for pedestrian malls alongside the old Pedestrian Mall Law of 1960.

The CEQA exemption definition of 'pedestrian mall' in Section 21080.25 was expanded to include both the definition in Section 11006 (old law) and Section 12006 (new law) of the Streets and Highways Code, so projects under either framework qualify for the exemption.

The state mandate reimbursement language was changed. The previous version stated that no reimbursement was required for certain mandates for a specified reason, while the new version removes that exception and provides only that if the Commission on State Mandates finds costs are mandated, reimbursement shall be made.

The digest language regarding the Pedestrian Mall Law was revised from 'revise and recast' to 'establish an alternative process,' indicating the new approach creates an additional pathway rather than fully replacing the 1960 law.