In Memoriam: United States Senator Dianne Feinstein
We, at the California Transit Association, join Californians from across the state in mourning the passing of United States Senator Dianne Feinstein. Senator Feinstein was, as others have acknowledged, a trailblazer for women in politics, having served as Mayor of San Francisco during a tumultuous time in the City's history and later ascending to the highest ranks in the United States Senate.
Throughout her storied career, Senator Feinstein established a track record as a fierce champion for the environment, women's rights, LGBTQIA+ rights, and, of course, public transportation. As constituents, and representatives for California's transit industry, we all could count on Senator Feinstein to lean into difficult problems, follow through on her commitments, and deliver for our state.
We thank Senator Feinstein for her years of service to our great state and send our condolences and prayers to her family, friends, and staff. Our state and our nation are better for her public service and her commitment to righteous causes.
BREAKING NEWS: Jennifer Pahlka Joins Illustrious Dais at Association's 58th Annual Fall Conference & Expo
The Association's 58th Annual Fall Conference & Expo, hosted by Foothill Transit, Access Services, and the City of Pasadena, is our marquee event of the year and will take place November 15-17 in Pasadena, CA. We are thrilled to announce that Jennifer Pahlka, author of Recoding America, will be our closing keynote speaker. As a reminder, CNN show host and President of Magic Labs Media, Van Jones, will kick-off the event with a timely and lively conversation moderated by Fox 11 News co-anchor Elex Michaelson.
Pahlka is a pioneer in making government work for the people in the digital age. In 2010, she founded Code for America, a national nonprofit that brings the principles and practices of the digital era to government. She also served as Deputy Chief Technology Officer in the Obama administration, focusing on human-centered solutions to today's technical challenges. Pahlka is the winner of numerous technology, society, and democracy awards, and she was named among Wired magazine's people who have most shaped technology and society in the past 25 years.
You'll want to be there for this one. Check out the newly released agenda at-a-glance, featuring all the concurrent sessions, and opportunities to sponsor and exhibit on the event website.
CalSTA Adopts SB 125 Guidelines
As we previously reported to you, the Budget Act of 2023-24 included SB 125 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review), which imposes new accountability and reform requirements on regions and their transit agencies to access the $5.1 billion in funds authorized under AB 102 (Committee on Budget). SB 125 requires the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) to adopt guidelines that provide greater structure and specificity to these accountability and reform requirements by no later than September 30, 2023. These guidelines will govern access to the General Fund-supported Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program and Zero-Emission Transit Capital Program. AB 102 appropriated $4 billion in General Fund support to the TIRCP over the next two fiscal years as well as $1.1 billion in Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and Public Transportation Account support to the Zero-Emission Transit Capital Program (ZETCP) over the next four years.
The Association, with the guidance of our Transit Operations Funding Subcommittee, was actively engaged in the development process for these guidelines, providing important feedback and perspective to CalSTA, with the goal of influencing the final guidelines that were ultimately adopted on Friday, September 29.
I strongly encourage members to review the final guidelines, which are available in two versions:
Among the most critical changes made in the final guidelines are the following:
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Addition of estimates of maximum allowable administrative expenses, by regional transportation planning agency, and establishment of a functional floor for administrative expenses for small RTPAs.
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Addition of safety, state of good repair for vehicles and infrastructure, free and reduced fare programs, and planning expenses related to implementation of ridership recovery and retention strategies as eligible expenses for operations funding.
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Clarification of parameters for project development expenses that further specify that project development can only be funded if the project it supports is pursuing federal funds for construction from the Federal Transit Administration or Federal Railroad Administration and can outline the specific federal, state, and other funding programs they are planning to utilize for construction funding.
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Clarification that the "transit operators" that must be included in an RTPAs short-term and long-term financial plan include only "STA-eligible operators."
We extend our specials thanks and appreciation to CalSTA for its direct engagement throughout the process with California transit agencies and regional transportation planning agencies, ensuring our recommendations were addressed in easing implementation of SB 125 and facilitating the allocation of AB 102 funding.
Governor Gavin Newsom Appoints Laphonza Butler to Complete Senator Feinstein's Term in the U.S. Senate
Late Sunday evening, October 1, Governor Gavin Newsom announced the selection of Laphonza Butler - the President of the nation's largest organization dedicated to electing women, EMILY's List - to complete the United States Senate term of the late Senator Dianne Feinstein, which runs through 2024.
As noted in the Governor's press release, Butler, a longtime senior adviser to Vice President Kamala Harris, labor leader, and advocate for women and working people, will be the first openly LGBTQ person to represent California in the Senate. She will also be the first Black lesbian to openly serve in Congress in American history and the second Black woman to represent California in the Senate following Vice President Kamala Harris.
With her selection to the Senate, Butler will step down from her role as president of EMILY's List, where she was the first woman of color and mother to lead the organization. Prior to joining EMILY's List, Butler ran political campaigns and led strategy efforts for numerous companies, organizations, and elected leaders - including for Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Butler was a key leader of Vice President Harris's presidential campaign. For more than a decade, she served as the president of the largest labor union in California - SEIU Local 2015 - a union representing more than 325,000 nursing home and home-care workers throughout the state.
Previously, Butler served as President of SEIU United Long Term Care Workers (ULTCW) and also as SEIU's Property Services Division Director, in which she was responsible for the strategic direction of organizing on behalf of more than 250,000 janitors, security officers, window cleaners, and food service workers across the country. Butler also served as an SEIU International Vice President and president of the SEIU California State Council.
Butler was the former director of the Board of Governors of the Los Angeles branch of the Federal Reserve System. In 2018, she was appointed to the University of California Board of Regents by Governor Jerry Brown, where she served until 2021. She served in various other roles, including as a board member for the National Children's Defense Fund, BLACK PAC, and the Bay Area Economic Council Institute, and as a fellow for the MIT Community Innovators Lab.
Watch the announcement video here.
Congress Acts to Avert Government Shutdown
On Saturday, September 30, the United States Congress approved, and President Biden signed, a short-term funding bill, known as a continuing resolution, to fund the government, including transit and rail programs, at current spending levels for an additional 45-days - through November 17, 2023. The measure includes $16 billion for disaster relief requested by President Biden.
As legislators return to Washington, D.C. this week, they will continue to review and debate the various Fiscal Year 2024 appropriations bills.
Still Time to Submit Support Letters for Legislation Awaiting Governor's Signature
While legislative action has ceased for the calendar year, Governor Newsom has begun to act on key legislation and continues to review the bills that reached his desk in the final weeks of the first year of the 2023-24 Legislative Session, including the Association's sponsored and high-priority legislation. This year, Governor Newsom will have until October 14 to act on all remaining bills. Governor Newsom may choose to either sign, veto, or take no action on a measure, which passively allows it to become law.
See our latest Legislative Bulletin highlighting the status of the Association's sponsored and high- priority bills that reached Governor Newsom's desk. We're providing template support letters for bills that have not yet been signed into law.
Input Needed: FTA Draft Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Transit Projects
FTA is seeking public input on the Draft Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Transit Projects: Programmatic Assessment. The Programmatic Assessment is a streamlining tool that analyzes estimated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated from the construction, operations, and maintenance phases of transit projects. The findings provide a reference for FTA and its project sponsors to use in environmental documents to describe the effects of proposed transit investments on partial lifecycle GHG emissions.
FTA has published a notice summarizing the Draft Programmatic Assessment in the Federal Register. FTA encourages stakeholders to review the notice and provide comments through November 24, 2023.
Clean Truck Check Announcement by CARB
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has posted a Notice of Regulatory Effective Date. CARB is establishing that the effective date for sections 2196.1, subdivision (f), 2196.8, 2197, and 2197.2, subdivision (b), of the Heavy-Duty Inspection and Maintenance (HD I/M) regulation is December 31, 2023.
This means that owners of vehicles subject to the HD I/M regulation, now referred to as Clean Truck Check, must report their vehicles to CARB and pay the annual compliance fee by December 31, 2023. Vehicle owners can complete these processes through CARB's Clean Truck Check reporting database starting in October of 2023. Further, freight contractors, brokers, and applicable freight facilities shall verify that vehicles they contract with for services or that enter their facilities are compliant with the HD I/M regulation as of December 31, 2023.
Finally, the parts unavailability compliance time extension provisions of section 2196.8 are enacted on December 31, 2023, to provide vehicle owners a compliance extension mechanism for situations when a repair component necessary to bring a vehicle back into compliance is unavailable.
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