Transportation

Existing law authorizes the legislative body of any county or city to adopt ordinances that, among other things, regulate the use of buildings, structures, and land as between industry, business, residences, open space, including agriculture, recreation, enjoyment of scenic beauty, use of natural resources, and other purposes. Existing law requires every city, county, or city and county to, in consultation with the local fire department or district and the utility director, if the city, county, or city and county operates a utility, adopt an ordinance that creates an expedited, streamlined permitting process for electric vehicle charging stations, as provided. This bill would prohibit a local building authority from denying, withholding, or conditioning a certificate of occupancy to a nonprofit applicant solely on the basis that required vehicle charging stations are not fully operational, provided that certain conditions are met, including that the applicant has installed all vehicle charging infrastructure required by applicable law, regulation, or building code in the manner and to the specifications required. By increasing the duties of local officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

This measure would designate a specified portion of State Route 18 in the County of San Bernardino as the Huuc Atam Highway. The measure would request that the Department of Transportation determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources sufficient to cover the cost, to erect those signs.

Existing law establishes the Department of Transportation and requires the department to improve and maintain the state highways. This bill would require the department, in collaboration with the California Transportation Commission, to prepare a report to assess the services provided by the department to maintain and improve the state highway system, and the needs of state highway infrastructure, in the southeast portion of the County of Los Angeles. The bill would require the department to submit the report to the Legislature, and post the report on its internet website, on or before February 1, 2028. In preparing the report, the bill would require the department to provide an opportunity to comment on the topic of the report, as specified. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for County of Los Angeles.

Existing law authorizes the operation of an autonomous vehicle on public roads for testing purposes by a driver who possesses the proper class of license for the type of vehicle operated if specified requirements are satisfied. Existing law prohibits the operation of an autonomous vehicle on public roads until the manufacturer submits an application to the Department of Motor Vehicles, as specified, and that application is approved. Existing law requires the department to adopt regulations setting forth requirements for the submission and approval of an application, including, among other things, any testing, equipment, and performance standards the department concludes are necessary to ensure the safe operation of autonomous vehicles on public roads, as specified. Existing law authorizes a peace officer, as defined, to issue a notice of autonomous vehicle noncompliance upon observing an alleged violation of the Vehicle Code or upon observing an alleged violation of a local traffic ordinance adopted pursuant to the Vehicle Code by an autonomous vehicle while the autonomous technology is engaged. This bill would require a citation for a traffic violation by a level 4 or 5 autonomous vehicle to be issued to the manufacturer of the autonomous technology if a traffic violation was committed while either the vehicle did not have a person in the driver's seat or the vehicle had a person in the driver's seat and the autonomous technology was engaged. The bill would authorize those citations to be issued by first-class mail. The bill would require a citation to be issued to the driver of an autonomous vehicle of any level if a traffic violation was committed while there was a person in the driver's seat and the autonomous technology was not engaged. The bill would require a citation to be issued to the driver of a level 3 autonomous vehicle if a traffic violation was committed while there was a person in the driver's seat and the autonomous technology was engaged. The bill would authorize the driver to, as a defense, raise that the autonomous technology was responsible for the traffic violation. The bill would require the citation to be issued to the manufacturer of the autonomous technology if the court determines that a level 3 autonomous vehicle was the cause of the traffic violation. The bill would authorize the holder of the testing permit or deployment permit to contest a citation or penalty.

Existing law requires the Department of General Services, beginning no later than the 2024–25 fiscal year, to ensure at least 50% of the light-duty vehicles purchased for the state vehicle fleet each fiscal year are zero-emission vehicles, except as provided. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to that requirement.

(1) Existing law authorizes a city or county in which a planned transportation facility was to be located on State Highway Route 238 in the City of Hayward and the County of Alameda to develop and file with the California Transportation Commission a local alternative transportation improvement program that addresses transportation problems and opportunities in the county, and provides for the use of revenues from the sale of excess properties acquired for the planned state facility in order to fund the local alternative transportation improvement program. Existing law prohibits the commission from approving a local alternative transportation improvement program submitted under these provisions after July 1, 2010. Existing law requires revenues from excess property sales for State Highway Route 238 to be deposited into a separate account in the Special Deposit Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, to be available for expenditure by local agencies for projects designated in the local alternative transportation improvement program. This bill would authorize the Alameda County Transportation Commission to file an amendment to the local alternative transportation improvement program for approval by the commission, and would authorize that amendment to propose to revise the projects listed in the program. Before filing the proposed amendment with the commission, the bill would require the Alameda County Transportation Commission to obtain the approval of the amendment from the city councils of the Cities of Hayward and San Leandro and the board of supervisors of the County of Alameda. By authorizing the commission to approve a revised list of projects, the bill would expand the purposes for which continuously appropriated funds may be expended, thereby making an appropriation. (2) Existing law makes it a crime for a person to pilot a vessel through the Golden Gate and into or out of a harbor in the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun, unless the person has a license as a pilot, as provided. Existing law defines "Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun" as all the waters of the Bay of San Francisco, Bay of San Pablo, and Bay of Suisun, and of the tributaries, ports, and harbors of those bays, including the water areas from the south end of San Francisco Bay and from the Ports of Sacramento and Stockton to the Golden Gate Bridge. Existing law requires a pilot that provides pilotage service in the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun to be insured, as provided, and requires a vessel, owner, operator, or demise or bareboat charterer hiring the pilot to either defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the pilot or provide trip insurance, as provided. This bill would clarify that the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun includes the Ports of Sacramento and Stockton. The bill would also clarify that those insurance provisions apply to any portion of a vessel transit that occurs within the waters of the Ports of Sacramento and Stockton. To the extent the bill would expand the definition of the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun, it would increase the scope of a crime and impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law specifies standards and requirements for the equipment of motor vehicles. Existing law generally requires motor carriers, drivers, and vehicles to comply with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations related to safety requirements for commercial motor vehicle operations, subject to department regulations. Under existing law, it is an infraction for a person to violate, or fail to comply with, a provision of the Vehicle Code, unless otherwise specified. This bill would additionally require motor carriers, drivers, vehicles, and shippers to comply with specified federal regulations related to the transportation of hazardous materials to the extent that they relate to transportation by highway unless the motor carrier, driver, vehicle, or shipper is an agency of the federal government. The bill would clarify that motor carriers, drivers, vehicles, and shippers not subject to the federal regulations described above are required to comply with those regulations unless specifically exempted from that compliance pursuant to department regulations. Because a violation of these provisions would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (4) Existing law authorizes a city, county, or city and county to establish an automated traffic enforcement system program to use those systems to detect a violation of a traffic control signal, if the system meets specified requirements. Existing law makes photographic, video, and administrative records made by a system confidential and specifies that data about the number of violations issued is not an administrative record required to be disclosed. Existing law establishes an administrative hearing process for notices of violations issued under these provisions and authorizes a contestant to seek review of the final decision by filing an appeal to the small claims division of the superior court or the traffic division of the superior court, as specified. Existing law provides that the conduct of the hearing on appeal is a subordinate duty that may be performed by a commissioner or other subordinate judicial officer, as specified. This bill would instead specify that data about the number of violations issued is not an administrative record prohibited from disclosure and is subject to disclosure. The bill would delete references to the small claims division or traffic division of a superior court in the above-described provisions and instead authorize a contestant to file an appeal to the superior court. The bill would provide that the conduct of the hearing on appeal may be a subordinate duty. The bill would also make a conforming change. (5) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Existing law establishes the Transportation Agency, which has the power of general supervision over specified state entities. Existing law requires the agency to develop and report on legislative, budgetary, and administrative programs to accomplish comprehensive, long-range, coordinated planning and policy formation in the matters of public interest related to the agency. This bill would establish specified goals for the Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure (CAPTI) , consistent with state law.

This measure would designate a specified portion of State Route 99 in the County of Butte as the Congressman Doug LaMalfa Memorial Highway. The measure would request that the Department of Transportation determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources sufficient to cover the cost, to erect those signs.

The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws. This bill, the Shortline Railroad Modernization Act of 2026, would allow credits against those taxes for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2027, and before January 1, 2032, to a qualified taxpayer in an amount equal to 50% of the qualified shortline railroad expenditures and for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2028, and before January 1, 2033, in an amount equal to 50% of the qualified new rail infrastructure expenditures, as defined and specified. Existing law requires a bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

Existing law authorizes, until January 1, 2032, the Cities of Los Angeles, San Jose, Oakland, Glendale, and Long Beach, and the City and County of San Francisco to establish a program for speed enforcement that utilizes speed safety systems if the systems meet specified requirements, including limits on the number of speed safety systems operated by a participating city or city and county at any time based on population. Existing law requires the speed safety system, to the extent feasible, to be angled and focused so as to only capture photographs of speeding violations and prohibits the speed safety system from capturing identifying images of other drivers, vehicles, or pedestrians. Existing law prohibits speed safety systems in a participating city or city and county from being operated on any California state route, including all freeways and expressways, United States highways, interstate highways, or any public road in unincorporated areas of any county where the Commissioner of the California Highway Patrol has full responsibility and primary jurisdiction for the administration and enforcement of the laws, and for the investigation of traffic accidents. This bill would require speed safety systems to blur any images that are unavoidably captured of other drivers, vehicles, or pedestrians who are not the subject of a notice of violation, and would require speed safety systems to blur these images, only to the extent feasible, for cameras that were installed before January 1, 2027. The bill would authorize, until January 1, 2032, the City of Long Beach to have 2 additional speed safety systems on the Pacific Coast Highway. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the City of Long Beach.