Assembly Member Wicks leads legislative Select Committee on Permitting Reform
Public transportation (and clean energy and housing) are held back by chronic challenges that make building things take too long and cost too much in California and the US.
This fall, Assembly Member Buffy Wicks took the lead in convening a Select Committee on Permitting Reform. The discussions will queue up legislation in 2025 - and has the potential to open the door for more discussion, coalition-building, and potential for larger reforms.
“To survive and thrive in a challenging climate, California is going to need to build a lot of infrastructure in the coming years,” said Assembly member Buffy Wicks at the Assembly Select Committee on Permitting Reform meeting in October.
Overall, panelists at the Select Committee hearing emphasized that the slow pace of improving transit (and active transportation) holds the State back from achieving its climate goals. Panelists highlighted inconsistencies in the permitting process. Public commenters supported the need to speed transportation projects to achieve the state’s climate goals, and also in support of the housing goals that would also benefit from permitting reform.
At the session on “Permitting Reform Needed to Mode Shift to Sustainable Transportation”, Laura Tolkoff of SPUR, which has played an important role in research and legislation in this area, talked about challenges with environmental review (CEQA) and with discretionary permitting. Tolkoff observed that CEQA plays an important role in environmental protection but has historically also hampered environmentally beneficial projects by treating all projects as having a negative impact on the environment, increasing project costs, and creating delays.
Tolkoff discussed SB 288 (2020), which streamlined the process for transit improvements within existing right of way and active transportation projects, and recommended removing its 2030 sunset date. Tolkoff also discussed challenges with discretionary local permitting processes for multi-jurisdictional projects such as bus lanes, that impose subjective requirements that change from city to city. Tolkoff recommended increased transparency and objective standards.
Juan Matute of the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies highlighted the need to make it easier to approve bus stop shelters, noting that this basic infrastructure can often be delayed by concerns raised by constituents and local elected officials. Like Tolkoff, Matute noted that transit priority projects improve bus speed and reliability, but are slowed or stopped by local permitting processes.
Chair Wicks conveyed remarks from an absent panelist from the Monterey-Salinas Transit who described barriers delaying a BRT project on an abandoned rail line. The bus project extends across three jurisdictions, state and federal agencies, all requiring separate permits. Permitting began in 2021 and continues today.
Rose Casey of the Orange County Transportation Authority recounted that the first modern electric Orange County street car project has been delayed by litigation with SoCal Edison and SoCal gas utilities due to relocation costs. Casey also discussed permitting challenges with the LOSSAN rail corridor where the tracks are at risk of sliding into the ocean. So far, the agency has been able to make accelerated repairs under an emergency permitting process, but without an immediate emergency, additional permits will take another year. Casey suggested streamlining review and approval of transportation projects across agencies (setting a lead state agency and improving interagency procedures). Casey also recommended recognizing high-risk situations that are not yet immediate emergencies.
Carter Rubin of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) talked about the importance of CEQA in disclosing the impacts of highway expansion, with over 200 major highway expansion projects in the pipeline. Rubin supported maintaining and extending current laws that streamline transit and active transportation (SB288/960), and raised concerns about Caltrans barriers to active transportation projects such as bike/pedestrian bridges that cross highways.
For more information about the Select Committee hearings, see the CalMatters pages here, here and here.
Ezra Klein talks about “a liberalism that builds” and the challenges that slow and costly building poses to housing and climate goals across the US. We expect that reform to make capital projects faster and more cost-effective will be a major topic this year, with opportunities to raise discussions about further reforms.