The Executive Order requires the state to take action by October to identify transit priority projects and more, but questions remain about the process for making those determinations.
By Arianna Smith
Managing Editor
Transit California
On June 26, outgoing Governor Newsom issued an Executive Order with a wide range of directives that could affect transit in the coming months and years to come.
Upon signing the order in June, Governor Newsom remarked, “California is stepping up by building the transportation infrastructure of the future — from faster buses and local rail to critical regional projects. We are accelerating the clean energy transition, bolstering the green economy, and creating good-paying jobs.” The order directs the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to take several steps designed to move this vision of the future forward by building key transit projects faster and increasing transit ridership across the state.
CalSTA Secretary Toks Omashakin added that the order is intended to make transit “more connected” for all Californians: “As global instability drives up fuel costs for working families, California is leading with investments in public transportation and infrastructure that reduces our reliance on fossil fuels.”
Association leadership met with Executive Branch representatives to glean details. Here’s what transit agencies need to know.
Executive Order directs agencies and departments to take action soon, but details are murky
The order describes seven major changes that are supposed to take place as early as October 24, 120 days after the date of the Governor signing the order. But the order does not specify whether that means the departments must begin the processes to make the changes, or have the changes fully implemented by that date.
Of perhaps highest interest to Association membership, the order directs Caltrans to develop a regularly updated list of transit priority projects. The order indicates that the list must be developed in consultation with “relevant local partners” but does not clarify how, when, or whether local transit agencies will be able to provide input. As criteria for placement on the list, the projects must be consistent with relevant Local or Regional Transportation Plans and Sustainable Communities strategies. For all projects included in the list, Caltrans will identify funding sources for which the projects are eligible. The order does not state a limit for the number of priority projects included on the list. It remains unclear whether Caltrans plans to complete and issue the list by the October deadline, or if the department will consult with stakeholders throughout the fall and into next year. It also remains unclear what, if anything, will happen once the list is created and shared publicly.
By October 24, Caltrans must also move forward on establishing itself as a Mobility Manager as defined by the Federal Transit Administration, which indicates the department will have the official ability to help communities develop coordination plans and programs, promote transit-favorable land-use policies, and serve as a broker to coordinate public transit amongst all customer groups and funding agencies. The department will be required “to provide tools to coordinate transit trips across grantees and subrecipients,” but how transit agencies will work with the department in this area has not been revealed.
Other items with the October 24 deadline include aligning future iterations of the State Transit Plan to the California State Rail Plan; beginning the process of developing design guidance for transit infrastructure on state highways (to be completed within one year); report to CalSTA how transit projects can be expedited based on recent transit- and housing-related changes to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA); and establishing a Statewide Active Transportation Delivery Support team to help with implementation of Active Transportation Program projects. There are not yet any details on how stakeholders can engage with Caltrans to provide input on implementing these directives.
Some Task Force recommendations and other updates could move forward
The order also included directives that did not have specific deadlines. One such component directs Caltrans to implement recommendations from the 2025 Transit Transformation Task Force report.
The Task Force, convened by CalSTA in 2023 as part of the SB 125 provisions for transit agency accountability with funds, included twelve Association member agency representatives. The Task Force met for nearly two years to produce a report that reflected the scope of transit’s problems and provided recommendations that the Legislature, the Governor’s Administration, and individual transit agencies could act on to advance the vision of growing transit ridership and improving the transit experience for all riders. When the report was released, it accurately explained the near-term funding crisis and resulting risks to ongoing operations that transit agencies currently face, but it fell short in both scope and level of detail to provide lawmakers with actionable steps to fix the funding crisis and bring about the viable vision for the future of transit indicated by the Task Force’s mission, particularly with regard to need for a comprehensive needs assessment of transit operators’ actual funding needs.
The order directs Caltrans to implement several recommendations in the report, including taking initial steps, beginning planning, and providing guidance. These initial steps are toward projects that include: supporting regions that use federal highway funds for transit uses; automating state and transit database reporting for rural and small agencies; reducing timelines for fund distribution and possibly lifting fund use limits; obtaining a National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) assignment from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA); providing technical assistance to agencies for Bus Rapid Transit/Bus Only lanes on state highway infrastructure; identifying ways to authorize transit agencies to use Caltrans airspace and facilities for zero-emission vehicle storage and refueling; supporting transit needs through excess toll revenues; updating the state manual on traffic control devices to include transit signal priority and bus lanes; and prioritizing funding to transit projects in Pro-Housing Designation jurisdictions.
The order further directs CalSTA to take steps to address barriers to projects caused by delays to NEPA clearance and update several funding program guidelines to deliver first- and last-mile connectivity. It directs Caltrans to publish guidelines for data availability through the California Integrated Travel Project.
Finally, Caltrans is directed to create online real-time dashboards that track the status of available funding programs. Whether these will be public or only available to select stakeholders remains unclear.
Long-standing Association membership priorities pushed, Executive Branch urged to work with transit agencies on implementation
The order presents the implementation of priorities as a partnership and consultative process with transit agencies and other stakeholders, but transit agencies need more engagement and information from the Administration. The Association is strongly urging the Governor’s office, CalSTA, and Caltrans to work with transit agencies now, both before the October 24 deadline for several initial items, as well as in the long-term for implementing Task Force recommendations. The Association has encouraged CalSTA and Caltrans to convene an industrywide meeting to further discuss the Executive Order and expected next steps and clarify how transit agencies can support the order’s implementation.
Beyond explanations and meetings about the order itself, the Association is also urging the Administration to address long-standing transit concerns and priorities that were largely left out of the order; doing so would be a show of faith and could help secure transit agency and transit industry buy-in to the highlighted items. For instance, the Association and other stakeholders have expressed strong interest in seeing Caltrans focus on ensuring that the FTA formula grants for rural areas it administers, known as 5311 funds, can be distributed to small agencies in the same fiscal year that they are set to receive the money. When agencies do not receive these funds on time, they sometimes must obtain a private line of credit to keep services running, and they risk the displeasure of FTA Region 9, which sees the slow funding disbursement as an outlier amongst the states.
To ensure the success of the ground-level results from implementing the order, the Administration has emphasized the plan to form partnerships with and support transit agencies. The Association has encouraged the Administration to share actionable details with agencies through webinars, and to work with agencies on addressing additional major ongoing concerns.
What’s next?
Many of the directives will require longer-term commitment and planning from the next Governor’s Administration to ensure completion.
Governor Newsom’s final term ends on January 4, 2027, upon which a new governor will be sworn into office. The new governor will also appoint his own cabinet secretaries and agency directors, which may result in leadership changes at CalSTA, Caltrans, and other Executive Branch entities affected by the order. How, and to what extent, the order is implemented will inevitably depend on the new governor’s goals and priorities for transit.