Streetsblog CA

The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) is updating CalEnviroScreen, holding a series of workshops and webinars starting this week and continuing throughout September—see the end of this post for locations and details. The first one takes place in Los Angeles this evening.

It's been a while since we recorded a #DamienTalks specifically for the California website, but now we're back with a good one. In this week's edition, Damien Talks with Michael Manville, a professor and researcher at UCLA.

Caltrans crunched four-year-old collision data from the California Highway Patrol and found that nearly twenty percent of traffic-related fatalities and severe injuries are speed-related.

It is no secret that taxis and ride-hail companies (Uber, Lyft) are in need of a more even playing field. California's taxi industry is regulated tightly by local municipalities, generally cities. Ride-hail, also called TNCs (Transportation Network Companies), are regulated relatively laxly by the state Public Utilities Commission (PUC). But proposed state legislation that would theoretically put the taxi industry on a more even footing is ruffling some feathers, especially in southern California, where the city of Los Angeles this week voted to formally oppose the legislation.

Today, the California Assembly passed A.B. 197, the companion bill to the Senate's greenhouse gas reduction target bill, S.B. 32, which it passed yesterday. A.B. 197 will now go to Governor Jerry Brown to sign into law, which he has said he is eager to do. S.B. 32, which extends greenhouse gas reduction targets out until 2030, passed the Senate later in the afternoon and is also headed to the governor's desk.

Some members of the mainstream media seem to be enjoying a good rip on California's climate change policies, especially its cap-and-trade program, heralding its imminent collapse and describing Governor Jerry Brown as desperate and “nervous” about whether he can save it.

The Senate released a spending plan for the unallocated portion of cap-and-trade revenues today, in the form of Assembly Bill 1613. The plan, say Senate leaders and advocates, focuses on environmental equity while supporting projects that will reduce greenhouse gases.

As 16-year-old Alexandra Retana walked up to the podium during last week's Anaheim City Council meeting's public comment period, she took a breath to calm herself.

A bill that would have created a statewide program to fund low-cost transit passes for students stalled out in the Senate Appropriations Committee.