Equity & Environmental Justice

Safe Routes Partnership and Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability (Leadership Counsel) commented on the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR)’s policy for pesticide application near schools. DPR’s new draft regulation would require that agriculture growers notify schools and day care centers when companies plan to spray pesticides in the area and prohibit the application during schools site sessions. The policy also would create 1/4 mile protection zone during school hours and also includes provisions on application methods.

AB 179 (Cervantes), which aims to restructure the California Transportation Commission (CTC) to ensure diverse representation that promotes equitable transportation planning and protect public health, passed out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee and is headed to the Assembly floor.

We are excited to be working with our statewide coalition partners to advance a number of bills in this year’s legislative session, including a Transportation Equity Package of bills that together will improve sustainable, affordable transportation options across the state, especially for low-income Californians.

The Safe Routes Partnership is sponsoring a bill in the California legislature this session that would require complete streets improvements to be made on state highways within California. Senate Bill 760 sets new policies and allocates funding to help Caltrans implement the agency’s already adopted Strategic Management Plan goals to make streets safer and more accessible for everyone, including children, seniors, and families, and to accommodate all transportation modes, includi

On January 26, 2017, Mayor Eric Garcetti and the Los Angeles Department of Transportation announced the release of the city’s first Vision Zero Action Plan and Safety Study. The plan outlines goals to reduce fatalities by 20 percent by the end of 2017 leading to the ultimate goal of zero traffic deaths by 2025 (hence the name of the campaign ‘Vision Zero’).

The California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) and OEHHA (Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA)’s statewide screening tool, CalEnviroScreen has been updated to a 3.0 version. CalEPA and OEHHA conducted several workshops and webinars over the course of Summer and Fall 2016 throughout the state in order gather input from stakeholders. A press release was published this month to announce the draft had been finalized.

The Safe Routes Partnership submitted a comment letter to Metro regarding the draft Measure M Guidelines last week. You can read our full letter here. Be sure to also check out a letter submitted by our partners at Investing in Place that we signed on to.