California Assembly Bill ‘AB-645: Vehicles: speed safety system pilot program‘ is going to be before the Assembly Appropriations Committee shortly. Though it breezed through the Assembly Transportation Committee, it faces challenges in Appropriations. Chair Rendon is rarely a supporter of safe streets, and has killed a lot of street safety bills in his committee, so it is important that the public make it clear how important this bill is.

Walk San Francisco is sponsoring a letter writing campaign to Anthony Rendon and Chris Herndon (as are many other organizations, you can check your favorite walking/bicycling advocacy organizations) at https://walksf.org/2023/05/04/the-speed-safety-camera-bill-ab-645-faces-its-next-hurdle-what-you-can-do-now/.

The bill would establish a pilot program in six cities. The City of Sacramento is not part of the pilot program (I think because the city did not request that it be), but the pilot results will be critical to implementing the program statewide. There are a tremendous number of privacy protections built into the program, far beyond those required for other motor vehicle code violations, but at least it stands to move forward in this legislative session.

Law enforcement has in the past opposed this legislation because it reduces the number of pretextual traffic stops they can make, though these stops often lead to the dead of motorists and even law enforcement officers. They apparently are not opposing this bill, at least not publicly.

Please check it out and support!