Infrastructure and Transportation Update - April 2023

California

New electric vehicles (EVs) sold in California would have to be equipped to provide battery power to the grid under a state Senate proposal…

A privately funded project to operate a nightly first-class passenger train between San Francisco and Los Angeles is underway…

Transit agencies across California are grappling with a “fiscal cliff” — a decline in revenue and the end of federal funding that has been a lifeline for the last three years…

As part of a budget proposal being unveiled in the state Senate, transit agency officials and their supporters in the Legislature are seeking “bridge funding” for transit systems throughout the state, some of whom are struggling to recover ridership after the pandemic…

Kyle Vogt, CEO and founder of GM-owned autonomous vehicle company Cruise, announced that the company’s robotaxis are now running around the clock in San Francisco…

The Air Resources Board this week is expected to approve regulations that over the next two decades would phase out gas-powered engines in school buses, trains, delivery vans, farm vehicles and the trucks that move cargo around ports…

Congress

Updates to national aviation and pipeline safety policies will dominate the upcoming schedule for the transportation panel in the U.S. House of Representatives…

Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) announced they're reintroducing the Freedom to Move Act, which would create fare-free public transportation not only in Massachusetts, but across the country. Both Sen. Markey and Rep. Pressley say free fares lead to better access to jobs, education and health care, especially in minority and low-income communities…

Republicans made several changes to its plan to increase the debt ceiling, H.R. 2811, early Wednesday morning, 4/26, ahead of potential consideration on the House floor…

President and Administration

The Biden administration on Wednesday, 4/12, announced what it called the most ambitious auto pollution rules in history, with the aim of accelerating automakers’ shift to electric vehicles…

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is asking railroads to examine how they configure freight trains, including length and car makeup, saying it has noticed similarities in recent derailments that suggest some trains aren't being built properly…

As part of its annual support to transit systems nationwide, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) today published details about the formula funding that helps communities maintain and operate the trains, buses, and ferries that provide more than half a million transit trips every month…

First News had a chance to get Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s views on President Joe Biden’s budget proposal…