State highways: public parking: traffic control.

Adds a new Chapter 10 (Sections 898-898.3) to the Streets and Highways Code, creating the Safe Tahoe Travel Act of 2026, which authorizes Caltrans to contract with state agencies, local governments, or the Tahoe Transportation District for safety, access, and parking management on State Routes 28, 50, and 89 within the Lake Tahoe Basin.

Adds legislative findings documenting specific safety hazards (759 wrong-way drivers over 40 days, over 20,500 pedestrians crossing without crosswalks, illegal shoulder parking, rockfall hazards) and notes that Nevada enacted a parallel statute (SB 426) creating a similar recreation safety zone on its side of the basin.

Creates the Tahoe Safe Recreation Access Fund, into which all public parking fee revenues are deposited, with continuous appropriation to Caltrans for operating and maintaining public parking, transit, pedestrian pathways, signage, and amenities in the Tahoe corridor.

Creates the Tahoe Safe Recreation Access Penalty Account (within the fund), into which citation penalty moneys are deposited, with continuous appropriation to Caltrans for enforcement of parking restrictions in the Tahoe corridor.

Simplifies the loan cap for supplemental apportionments by removing the first option (difference between project cost and current year apportionment), leaving only the lesser of 30 times the city's average annual apportionment or $2,000,000.

Requires that no parking citations may be issued in any area of the Tahoe corridor where there is no access to a recreation destination from public parking using public transit or pedestrian pathways, ensuring parking fees are only collected where alternative access exists.

Changes the approving authority for city supplemental apportionment requests from the Controller to Caltrans (the department), shifting administrative responsibility for the loan program.

Defines 'Tahoe corridor' as portions of State Routes 28, 50, and 89 within the region; defines 'region' as Lake Tahoe and adjacent parts of El Dorado and Placer Counties within the Tahoe Basin; defines 'traffic calming' with an explicit exclusion for measures that reduce the number of vehicle lanes.

Authorizes contracted employees of state agencies, local governments, or the district to issue citations (manually or electronically) for failure to pay parking fees, with the same force and effect as peace officer citations, subject to minimum qualification and training requirements.

Changes the required vote from a simple majority to a two-thirds majority, and changes the appropriation designation from 'no' to 'yes' to reflect the new continuous appropriations in the Tahoe provisions.

The entire provision allowing small cities (with average annual RMRA apportionments of $200,000 or less) to request supplemental loans from the State Highway Account is deleted. Cities could previously borrow up to the lesser of 30 times their average apportionment or $2,000,000 and repay over time.

The Tahoe Safe Recreation Access Fund and Penalty Account are no longer continuously appropriated to Caltrans automatically. Funds now require appropriation by the Legislature before Caltrans can use them, giving the Legislature ongoing control over spending.

The purposes for which fund moneys may be used are expanded to include 'development' and 'construction' of public parking, transit, and pedestrian pathways (previously only operation and maintenance), and 'technology' is added alongside signage.

The definition of 'Tahoe corridor' is narrowed from all portions of State Routes 28, 50, and 89 within the region to only those portions designated through a contract where traffic calming or parking facilities are needed for safety and equitable access to public lands.

A new first purpose is added to Section 898.2(a): Caltrans must designate the portions of state highways constituting the Tahoe corridor and place and maintain signage indicating those designated portions.

Appointed citation-issuing employees must now be provided a vehicle in addition to uniforms and citation equipment.

A new provision explicitly authorizes Caltrans to achieve the purposes of the Tahoe Safe Recreation Access Fund by way of contract under Section 898.2(a).

The prohibition on issuing parking citations in areas without access to a recreation destination via public transit or pedestrian pathways is expanded to also apply outside the Tahoe corridor, not just within it.

The appropriation vote changes from 'no' to 'yes,' reflecting that the bill now makes an appropriation (since funds require legislative appropriation rather than being continuously appropriated). Coauthors are also removed from the bill header.

The provision requiring the Controller to apportion a minimum of $200,000 to each city in the 2027-28 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter was removed entirely. The bill no longer amends Section 2032, so this floor guarantee is gone.

A new loan cap was added: the supplemental loan cannot exceed 30 times the city's average annual apportionment over the three prior fiscal years. This sits between the project-cost gap and the existing $2,000,000 ceiling, providing a middle limit that scales with the city's typical funding level.

The eligibility threshold for a supplemental apportionment changed from the city's apportionment in the applicable fiscal year being no more than $200,000 to the city's average annual apportionment over the three prior fiscal years being no more than $200,000. This makes it harder for a city that had one unusually low year to qualify, but easier for a city whose apportionment fluctuates around the threshold.

A new provision exempts a city from submitting a project list and from complying with the maintenance-of-effort requirement (Section 2036) for as long as it is repaying a supplemental apportionment. This reduces administrative burden on small cities that are in the process of paying back their loan.

Repayment of the supplemental loan can now come from future RMRA apportionments, moneys from other sources, or both. Previously repayment was limited to future RMRA apportionments only, giving cities more flexibility in how they pay back the loan.

The bill now amends only Section 2034 of the Streets and Highways Code. The prior version also amended Section 2032 (which contained the RMRA allocation structure and the minimum per-city guarantee). Removing the Section 2032 amendment narrows the bill's scope to the supplemental loan mechanism only.

Cities and counties must submit a list of proposed projects to the California Transportation Commission before receiving their RMRA apportionment. Projects must be adopted by resolution at a regular public meeting, and jointly funded projects require a memorandum of understanding identifying the lead agency and each entity's contribution.

If a city or county does not submit its project list in time, the Controller retains that entity's monthly share of funds. If the commission reports within 90 days that the entity has become eligible, those retained funds are apportioned to it; otherwise they are reapportioned to all eligible cities and counties.

Cities and counties must submit expenditure documentation to the commission after spending program funds, including project descriptions, locations, amounts spent, completion dates, and estimated useful life of improvements.

Cities and counties may now expend other funds on eligible projects before receiving their RMRA apportionment and can reimburse those funding sources when they receive their apportionment over one or more years.

A city whose RMRA apportionment is $200,000 or less may request a supplemental loan from the State Highway Account. The loan is capped at the lesser of the gap between project costs and the city's apportionment, or $2 million. The city must agree to repay from future RMRA apportionments on terms set by the commission. The Controller can only approve if the amount is available as reserves in the State Highway Account.

The bill was restructured to amend Section 2034 (new provisions) instead of Section 2032. The original Section 2032 content (funding allocation formulas for the RMRA) is preserved in a new section with minor corrections such as changing 'created' to 'established' regarding the Active Transportation Program.