California Assembly Bill AB1193 Amended / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: AB 1193AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 1, 2014 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 18, 2014 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JANUARY 23, 2014 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JANUARY 6, 2014 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 25, 2013 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 16, 2013 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 21, 2013 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Ting (Coauthors: Assembly Members Bloom, Gatto, Lowenthal, and Wieckowski) FEBRUARY 22, 2013 An act to amend  Section 42872.1 of the Public Resources Code, to amend  Sections 890.4, 890.6,  and 891   891, 891.5, and 2551  of, to add Section 885.1 to, and to repeal Section 891.1 of, the Streets and Highways Code,  and to amend Sections 231.5 and 21211 of the Vehicle Code,  relating to bikeways. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1193, as amended, Ting. Bikeways. (1) Existing law defines "bikeway" for certain purposes to mean all facilities that provide primarily for bicycle travel. Existing law categorizes bikeways into 3 classes of facilities.  This bill would additionally provide for Class IV bikeways, also known as cycle tracks or separated bikeways, as specified.   This bill would instead revise and reclassify these "bikeways" as bike paths, bike lanes, bike routes, and cycle tracks, as specified.  (2) Existing law requires the Department of Transportation, in cooperation with county and city governments, to establish and update minimum safety design criteria for the planning and construction of bikeways, and requires the department to establish uniform specifications and symbols regarding bicycle travel and bicycle traffic related matters. Existing law requires all city, county, regional, and other local agencies responsible for the development or operation of bikeways or roadways where bicycle travel is permitted to utilize all of those minimum safety design criteria and uniform specifications and symbols. This bill would  revise these provisions to  require the department, in cooperation with local agencies, to establish minimum safety design criteria for each  class of bikeways,   type of bikeway  with consideration for the safety of vulnerable populations, as specified  , and would require the department to publish the new criteria by January 1, 2016  . The bill would  require all city, county, regional, and other local agencies to utilize the uniform specifications and symbols for signs, markers, and traffic control devices established by the department and would authorize those agencies to utilize the minimum safety design criteria   authorize a local agency to utilize other minimum safety criteria if adopted by resolution at a public meeting, as specified  . (3) Existing law requires the Department of Transportation to establish, by June 30, 2013, procedures for cities, counties, and local agencies to be granted exceptions from the requirement to use design criteria and uniform specifications for purposes of research, experimentation, testing, evaluation, or verification. Existing law requires the department, by November 1, 2014, to report to the transportation policy committees of both houses of the Legislature the steps that the department has taken to implement those requirements, including, but not limited to, information regarding requests received and granted by the department from July 1, 2013, to June 30, 2014, inclusive, for those exceptions, and the reasons the department rejected any requests for those exceptions. This bill would repeal those requirements.  (4) The bill would also make technical and conforming changes to various cross-references in state code provisions.  Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) It is the goal of the state to increase the number of trips Californians take by bicycle and other forms of active transportation in order to help meet the state's greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals, improve Californians' health by helping more people be active, and stimulate the economy. (b) Protected bikeways are proven to attract many more people to bicycling and to reduce collision rates compared to unimproved streets or streets with typical bike lanes. (c) Property and businesses adjacent to protected bikeways experience increases in real estate values and sales compared to unimproved streets. (d) Bicycling accounts for 2,000,000 trips every day in California, showing growth in all groups, in particular among people of color. (e) Safe street-level bikeways are proven to reduce bike riding on the sidewalk, wrong-way riding, and other illegal or unsafe bicycling practices. (f) It is the objective of the state to encourage the planning, design, and construction of protected bikeways in a manner that improves safety for all users, including motorists, transit users, pedestrians, and persons with disabilities, with special attention to the needs of visually impaired persons.  SEC.   2   .   Section   42872.1 of the   Public Resources Code   is amended to read:  42872.1. (a) This section shall be known, and may be cited, as the Rubberized Pavement Market Development Act. (b) In accordance with the tire recycling program authorized by Section 42872, the department shall award grants in the following manner: (1) To cities, counties, and other local governmental agencies for the funding of public works projects that utilize rubberized pavement. (2) To state and local governmental agencies, including regional park districts, for the funding of disability access projects at parks and  Class I bikeways   bike paths  as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 890.4, relative to projects that utilize rubberized pavement. (c) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), the department shall award the grants pursuant to subdivision (b) in the amount of two dollars ($2) for every 12 pounds of crumb rubber used in a public works or disability access project by a state or local governmental agency, including a regional park district. (2) The department may adjust the amount of grants awarded pursuant to paragraph (1) to an amount that is greater than, or less than, two dollars ($2) for every 12 pounds of crumb rubber if the department finds this adjustment would further the purposes of this article. (d) This section shall become inoperative on June 30, 2019, and, as of January 1, 2020, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2020, deletes or extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.  SEC. 2.   SEC. 3.  Section 885.1 is added to the Streets and Highways Code, to read: 885.1. This chapter shall be known, and may be cited, as the Protected Bikeways Act of 2014.  SEC. 3.   SEC. 4.  Section 890.4 of the Streets and Highways Code is amended to read: 890.4. As used in this article, "bikeway" means all facilities that provide primarily for bicycle travel. For purposes of this article, bikeways shall be categorized as follows: (a)  Class I bikeways, also known as "bike paths" or "shared-use paths,"   Bike paths,    which provide a completely separated right-of-way designated for the exclusive use of bicycles and pedestrians with crossflows by motorists minimized. (b)  Class II bikeways, also known as "bike lanes,"   Bike lanes,  which provide a restricted right-of-way designated for the exclusive or semiexclusive use of bicycles with through travel by motor vehicles or pedestrians prohibited, but with vehicle parking and crossflows by pedestrians and motorists permitted. (c) Class III bikeways, also known as onstreet or offstreet "bike routes,"   Bike routes,  which provide a right-of-way  on-street or off-street,  designated by signs or permanent markings and shared with pedestrians and motorists. (d)  Class IV bikeways, also known as "cycle tracks" or "separated bikeways,"   Cycle tracks,    which provide a right-of-way designated exclusively for bicycle travel  within   adjacent to  a roadway and which are protected from vehicular traffic. Types of separation include, but are not limited to, grade separation, flexible posts, inflexible physical barriers, or on-street parking.  SEC. 4.   SEC. 5.  Section 890.6 of the Streets and Highways Code is amended to read: 890.6. The department, in cooperation with county and city governments, shall establish minimum safety design criteria for the planning and construction of each  class   type  of bikeway identified in Section 890.4 and roadways where bicycle travel is permitted. The criteria shall include, but not be limited to, the design speed of the facility, minimum widths and clearances, grade, radius of curvature, pavement surface, actuation of automatic traffic control devices, drainage, and general safety, with consideration for the safety of vulnerable populations, such as children, seniors, persons with impaired vision, and persons of limited mobility. The criteria shall be  published by January 1, 2016, and  updated biennially, or more often, as needed.  SEC. 5.   SEC. 6.  Section 891 of the Streets and Highways Code is amended to read: 891.  (a)    All city, county, regional, and other local agencies responsible for the development or operation of bikeways or roadways where bicycle travel is permitted  may   shall  utilize the minimum safety design criteria established pursuant to Section 890.6  , except as provided in subdivision (b), and shall utilize the uniform specifications and symbols for signs, markers, and traffic control devices established pursuant to Section 890.8.  (b) An agency may utilize minimum safety design criteria other than those established by Section 890.6 if the criteria are adopted by resolution at a public meeting as a standing policy or if the criteria are included in the description of a project approved at a public meeting.   SEC. 6.   SEC. 7.  Section 891.1 of the Streets and Highways Code is repealed.  SEC. 8.   Section 891.5 of the   Streets and Highways Code   is amended to read:  891.5. The Sacramento Area Council of Governments, pursuant to subdivision (d) of Section 2551, may purchase, operate, and maintain callboxes on  class 1 bikeways   bike paths as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 890.4  .  SEC. 9.   Section 2551 of the   Streets and Highways Code   is amended to read:  2551. (a) A service authority for freeway emergencies may be established in any county if the board of supervisors of the county and the city councils of a majority of the cities within the county having a majority of the population of cities within the county adopt resolutions providing for the establishment of the authority. (b) The resolutions may designate the county transportation commission for the county, created pursuant to Division 12 (commencing with Section 130000) of the Public Utilities Code or council of governments formed pursuant to Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 6500) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code, as the service authority for freeway emergencies. The powers of a commission or council of governments so designated are limited to those of the service authority. (c) The Metropolitan Transportation Commission may function as the service authority for freeway emergencies in any or all of the Counties of Santa Clara, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Solano, Sonoma, Napa, and the City and County of San Francisco upon adoption of a resolution by the commission to act as a service authority and upon ratification of the commission's resolution in a particular county by the board of supervisors of the city and county or by the board of supervisors of the county and by the city councils of the cities within the county having a majority of the population of the cities within the county. (d) (1) The Sacramento Area Council of Governments may function as the service authority for freeway emergencies in any or all of the Counties of Sacramento, Yolo, Yuba, Sutter, and San Joaquin, or any other county that is not within another multicounty service authority, upon adoption of a resolution by the council to act as a service authority and upon ratification of the resolution in a particular county by the board of supervisors of the county and by the city councils of the cities within the county having a majority of the population of the cities within the county. (2) The Sacramento Area Council of Governments may also exercise, as a service authority, in any of those counties, the powers specified in Section 891.5 pertaining to callboxes on  class 1 bikeways   bike paths as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 890.4  . (e) As used in this chapter, "authority" and "service authority" mean a service authority for freeway emergencies created pursuant to this chapter.  SEC. 10.   Section 231.5 of the   Vehicle Code   is amended to read:  231.5. A "bicycle path" or "bike path" is a  Class I bikeway,   bike path  as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 890.4 of the Streets and Highways Code.  SEC. 11.   Section 21211 of the   Vehicle Code   is amended to read:  21211. (a) No person may stop, stand, sit, or loiter upon any  class I bikeway,   bike path  as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 890.4 of the Streets and Highways Code, or any other public or private bicycle path or trail, if the stopping, standing, sitting, or loitering impedes or blocks the normal and reasonable movement of any bicyclist. (b) No person may place or park any bicycle, vehicle, or any other object upon any  bikeway   bike path  or bicycle path or trail, as specified in subdivision (a), which impedes or blocks the normal and reasonable movement of any bicyclist unless the placement or parking is necessary for safe operation or is otherwise in compliance with the law. (c) This section does not apply to drivers or owners of utility or public utility vehicles, as provided in Section 22512. (d) This section does not apply to owners or drivers of vehicles who make brief stops while engaged in the delivery of newspapers to customers along the person's route. (e) This section does not apply to the driver or owner of a rubbish or garbage truck while actually engaged in the collection of rubbish or garbage within a business or residence district if the front turn signal lamps at each side of the vehicle are being flashed simultaneously and the rear turn signal lamps at each side of the vehicle are being flashed simultaneously. (f) This section does not apply to the driver or owner of a tow vehicle while actually engaged in the towing of a vehicle if the front turn signal lamps at each side of the vehicle are being flashed simultaneously and the rear turn signal lamps at each side of the vehicle are being flashed simultaneously.