SB 1464, authored by Long Beach Sen. Alan Lowenthal, would require drivers to give bicyclists at least three feet of clearance when overtaking them from behind in the same lane. By giving bicyclists a little more space on the road, SB 1464 can help prevent passing-from-behind collisions, the deadliest type of vehicle collision for bicyclists.

SB 1464 lets drivers cross a solid double yellow centerline, when safe, in order to give bicyclists at least three feet. And if three feet isn’t available, the bill only allows drivers to pass by slowing down and giving the bicyclist as much space as feasible. Read more about the bill here.

The Senate Transportation & Housing Committee voted 8-0 to approve SB 1464 last month after receiving messages from 50+ organizations, bicycling clubs and businesses and more than 500 individuals – an unprecedented show of support! We need an even bigger response before next week’s Senate debate.

Here’s what you can do. With help from our allies at TransForm, send a personalized email to your Senator (even if you’re not sure which Senator is yours) by clicking on this link. Entering your zip code will generate an email addressed to your Senator. You can modify the email with a more personal message – please do this if you or a loved one has been injured by a driver passing unsafely or if you ride less because of concerns about unsafe passing.

If you’d rather use snail-mail, download a sample letter (Word format) and modify it by adding your Senator’s name and State Capitol room number, which you can find here, and your own contact information. (There’s no need to send a letter to your Assemblymember right now. We’ll let you know when it’s time!)

Next week’s debate takes place among Senators only – they won’t hear any outside testimony from organizations like ours. But senators listen to their constituents. That’s why it’s so important for you to contact your Senator today!

Help support our campaign to enact SB 1464 in California by making a generous donation today. Thanks!

The data, released by America Bikes, a coalition of national bicycling advocacy organizations, show that support for federal funding is consistent across all political affiliations, age groups, regions and community types, including 88% of those who identify as Democrats, 86% of those who identify as Independents, and 80% of those who identify as Republicans.

The conclusion is unambiguous: Americans want their federal government to preserve or increase the levels of funding used by communities throughout the U.S., including California, to ensure that adults and children can continue bicycling and walking for transportation and recreation.

Right now lawmakers in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives are negotiating over the specifics of a new federal transportation bill. The House version of the bill would eliminate dedicated funding for bicycling and walking projects and programs, effectively rolling back rolling back a generation’s worth of progress to make our nation more bikeable and walkable. Thanks to the leadership of U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer from California, the Senate version preserves dedicated funding at current level. Read a comparison of the Senate and House versions.

Boxer chairs the committee that will craft a compromise between the Senate and House versions of the bill. We’re calling on her to continue standing firm on behalf of dedicated funding for bicycling and walking.

After months of bracing for the worst, bicycle advocates got a very different surprise last week when the U.S. House of Representatives passed a 90-day extension of the existing federal transportation bill without continuing to propose an end to dedicated funding for bicycling infrastructure and programs. It’s another sign that our collective advocacy efforts are paying off.

Cuts to bicycle funding proposed in an earlier version of the House transportation bill proved controversial even among some Republicans. America Bikes, which continues to lobby to protect federal bicycle funding, has identified three open-minded Republican Representatives from California who can help swing the House in our favor. We’re urging our members and affiliates in three Southern California counties to remind Representatives Jerry Lewis, Mary Bono Mack, and Brian Bilbray just how important bicycle safety is to their constituents.

Last week we turned a dubious bill into a good one.

Assembly Bill 1989, authored by San Bernardino Assemblymember Wilma Amina Carter, would have levied a $2 fee on every new bike to pay for bike trails in state parks.

While meeting with Carter to express our concerns about the basic inequity of taxing only bike retailers to fund mixed-use trails, CBC lobbyist Will Gonzalez convinced her to amend the bill in much bolder direction. Carter agreed to replace the levy on new bikes with a $1 fee on motor vehicle registrations for the purpose of building bikeways anywhere, not just in state parks.

The bill is a long shot, but a great victory if we win it. If every jurisdiction were to levy this fee, it would generate $25 million a year for bicycling statewide.

On Apr. 12 we held a workshop in the State Capitol to introduce the NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide to Caltrans staff and Senate and Assembly transportation committee staff. Part of our campaign to authorize newer protected bikeway designs and other innovations, the workshop was led by Michael Sallaberry, transportation engineer from the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, and David Parisi of Parisi Associates. They explained the research behind the guide’s design recommendations and how they can improve safety.

Our next step is to make sure that Caltrans leadership also understands the value of building safer, protected bikeways, and will authorize those designs in California’s biggest cities. You can help by asking your mayor to write a letter to Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty today. Find a sample letter on our campaign page.

Senate Bill 1464, this year’s version of the 3-foot passing bill cosponsored by CBC and the City of Los Angeles, passed in its first Senate hearing on Apr. 17. The Senate Transportation & Housing Committee voted 8-0 to approve the bill.

The bill generated little discussion among committee member and no opposition at the hearing, a promising sign that we’ve solved the main concerns that caused Gov. Jerry Brown to veto SB 910, last year’s 3-foot passing bill. Read about the main differences between the two bills.

Heath Maddox, a Berkeley bicyclist and transportation planner whose father was hit and killed by a passing car during a bike ride, and attorney Bill Dullea, whose firm represents injured bicyclists, were the primary witnesses on behalf of SB 1464. Representatives from the Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates, the YMCA and the Automobile Club of Southern California were among those who also spoke in support of the bill. No one testified against the bill.

More than 500 individuals and more than 50 advocacy organizations, bicycling clubs, racing teams and businesses sent the committee letters of support for SB 1464, a dramatic response by most measures. Many thanks to everyone who sent a letter!

The bill’s next stop is the Senate Appropriations Committee, but SB 1464 does not contain an appropriation or have a meaningful fiscal impact, we don’t expect much discussion. The full Senate will vote on the bill later next month, and then it’s on to the Assembly this summer.

Meanwhile, we’ve launched a Fundrazr campaign to raise $3,000 to help us get SB 1464 passed and signed into law. Your support will help us continue educating lawmakers and rallying supporters throughout the state. Please give generously!

Bicycling has become an issue in the San Diego mayor’s race, thanks to the efforts of a singleminded San Diego bike advocate. The city has a vibrant bicycling scene, and none of the four candidates was talking about it before Samantha Ollinger got busy.

Late last summer Ollinger, who writes a widely read blog and also serves on the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition board, challenged candidate Nathan Fletcher, an Assemblymember representing San Diego, to substantiate his stated support for bicycling issues. Fletcher responded last month with a detailed outline for implementing San Diego’s bike master plan.

“As an avid cyclist, I want to see San Diego embrace the full potential it has to be one of the world’s great bike friendly cities,” Fletcher said in his plan. “That vision includes making biking safer, providing more recreational cycling opportunities and completing our cycling infrastructure so people can move around their neighborhoods as easily on a bike as they can in a car.”

“When I started asking the mayoral candidates to make bicycling a political issue in the race, I had no idea how successful I’d be,” said Ollinger. “I have no money, no connections. But I was very persistent and very proactive. I strongly encourage advocates to do this in their communities elsewhere in the state.”

So far Fletcher’s three rivals have resisted Ollinger. During the National Bike Summit in March, Congressman Bob Filner, another mayoral candidate, pledged his support for federal funding for bicycling and walking. And in a recent debate, frontrunner candidate Carl DeMaio said increasingly population density in San Diego required better access for bicycling as transportation.

Nearly 100 Californians went to Washington for this year’s National Bike Summit. This is a quick summary of what we learned and did, from the opening reception on Tuesday night to the Congressional Bike Ride Friday morning.

Thursday we met with the staff of 27 Representatives and two Senators. Tyler Rushforth of Senator Boxer’s staff talked about the many late hours spent to hammer out the bipartisan transportation bill, aka Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century. MAP-21 consolidates programs and preserves flexibility, keeps funding for bicycling and walking but with reduced protections, and guarantees local access to funding. America Bikes supports it. As Tyler said, “the Senate did its homework.” A bike shop owner in our delegation told Tyler that all their hard work was appreciated by the young man back home who now has a job in his shop thanks to the growth of bicycling in his community.

Whereas Boxer was committed to a bipartisan approach, the leadership in the House proposed a narrower approach with its bill, HR 7. Speaker Boehner tried to get the Tea Party to accept more spending than it wanted in exchange for spending all the money on highways. That cost him the moderates, some of whom voted for the Petri-Johnson amendment to protect bicycling and walking. While it lost narrowly, 29-27, it was a clear demonstration that bicycling and walking has some Republican support. With the failure of HR 7, the House leadership is now proposing a 3-month extension of the current bill, although they ought to use the Senate bill as the starting point, introduced in the House as HR 14.

What this means for Californians is that our Republican delegation to Congress is critically important for the future of bicycling in the U.S. While we met mostly with Democrats on the Hill on Thursday, our priority in the next few weeks and months is to meet with Republicans in their districts.

Wednesday at the summit we learned about best practices in advocacy, and prepared for our meetings on the Hill the next day. Tuesday afternoon, prior to the summit’s Opening Reception, we met with other selected leaders of statewide bicycle advocacy organizations to discuss some state-level strategies for preserving funding for bicycling and walking. We talked about our work in California to guarantee that whatever happens in Washington, the state’s spending priorities will continue to include bicycling and walking in at least the same proportions as today. Aware of this work, James Oberstar told his colleagues, “every state ought to do like California is doing.”

From: Chris Morfas, CBC President

Yesterday the League of American Bicyclists, the Alliance for Biking & Walking, and Bikes Belong announced they are giving serious consideration to merging into a single organization. We commend these allies for courageously exploring ways to improve our movement’s efficiency and effectiveness.

We recognize the potential impact of pooling the combined resources of these three organizations to create a single national bike advocacy powerhouse. We understand there are many important details to iron out, but we urge the boards of these organizations to give their prompt and full consideration to the proposed merger.

Under any scenario, state-level advocacy will remain an essential component of a comprehensive national strategy. It’s at the state level where key decisions regarding funding, bicyclists’ rights and standards for bicycle-friendly roads and trails are made. California has an especially esteemed history in this regard: For decades, the Golden State’s bicycling advocates have been pioneers in establishing bike lane and bike trail design guidance, using state gas tax dollars for dedicated bike project funding, enacting safe routes to school and complete streets laws and more.

After one of the best years in our history, CBC stands ready to continue establishing California as a place that matters to bike advocates around the nation. We take inspiration from our national allies for their willingness to confront the need for organizational change. California has 15 local advocacy organizations with paid staff and dozens of other groups and clubs led by dedicated volunteers. We aim to make 2012 a year of unprecedented collaboration with these local groups as we unite around a vision for a healthier, safer, more livable California, thanks to bicycling.

All of us at CBC greatly appreciate your commitment to bicycle advocacy in your own community and with us at the California Bicycle Coalition. We look forward to the many benefits of our future collaborations.

  ]]> http://calbike.org/cbc-lauds-national-consolidation/feed/ 0 http://calbike.org/bid-today-on-great-deals-for-bicycle-lovers/ http://calbike.org/bid-today-on-great-deals-for-bicycle-lovers/#comments Tue, 29 Nov 2011 20:06:28 +0000 jimbrown http://calbike.org/?p=2487 Some of the bike industry’s best companies are helping raise money for CBC’s agenda by donating to the our first-ever year-end auction!

iZip Via Rapido electric bike

We’re  featuring some great items, from bikes to a Trikke to snappy t-shirts and a messenger bag.

Here’s a sample:

• A fully-equipped 7-speed commuter bike from one of the most stylish new brands out there: PUBLIC.
• The industry-leading Dahon offers its Vitesse D7 folding bike.
• Need a little assist? Check out this gorgeous electric bike: the iZip Via Rapido.

The auction also features some high quality clothing and accessories, including gorgeous t-shirts from Reckless Behavior, stylish cycling tops from Sheila Moon,

The Shed messenger bag by Mission Workshop

Cordura jeans from SWRVE and The Shed messenger bag from MissionWorkshop.

On the gear side of things we offer Bontrager saddles and a DuraAce crank from JAX Bicycle Centers.

And this special offer from Mike’s Bikes: a personalized fitting session or a complete bike overhaul.

In order to bid, you have to register  – it’s free and secure and just takes a moment.

Bid often! Refer your friends and family! Help support the CBC!

DuraAce crank set donated by Jax Bicycle Center