This week, Senator Scott Wiener introduced Senate Bill 71, which would make permanent a successful pilot project that has jumpstarted dozens of sustainable transportation projects in California. SPUR has been a driving force behind this exemption and is a sponsor of this legislation. We asked Transportation Policy Director Laura Tolkoff to tell us what California has been able to accomplish with the exemption and what SB 71 will do.

California’s increasingly extreme weather, exemplified by the Los Angeles fires, is fueling a home insurance crisis, with many insurers canceling plans or raising premiums. California has already begun to implement reforms in the insurance industry, but more must be done. SPUR highlights the urgent need to accurately price hazard risk, advance risk mitigation through smart land use planning, and establish voluntary buyout programs for high-risk properties.

San Francisco voters recently passed a SPUR-cosponsored measure to realize the largest pedestrian project in California’s history. The permanent promenade along a two-mile stretch of the coastal highway expands the vision of SPUR’s 2012 Ocean Beach Master Plan, the core elements of which the California Coastal Commission just approved. The win: a resilient public coastline offering community benefits.

Earlier this year, SPUR published a report recommending that San Francisco define the purpose and role of its many commissions and reduce their overall number. The passage of Proposition E sets this work in motion. To ensure an outcome that better supports policymaking, SPUR proposes five steps to a data-driven, deliberative public process.

As the Bay Area phases out sales of gas water heaters and gas furnaces, property owners will need to install zero-pollution, high-efficiency electric heat pump devices in buildings when the existing devices fail. But the current process is complicated and expensive. In this installment of our series on improving the process, we explore state-level action to mandate, incentivize, guide, and resource simplified permitting at the local level.