HomeMy WebLinkAboutSB 445 (Wiener) Transportation Projects - Permitting - City of SLO - Letter of OPPOSITIONCity of San Luis Obispo, Office of the City Council, 990 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo, CA, 93401-3249, 805.781.7114,
slocity.org
July 9, 2025
The Honorable Lori Wilson
Chair, Assembly Committee on Transportation
1020 N Street, Suite 112
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: SB 445 (Wiener) Transportation Projects: Permitting.
Notice of OPPOSITION (As amended 6/30/2025)
Dear Chair Wilson,
The City of San Luis Obispo regretfully must oppose SB 445 (Wiener). While we support
efforts to streamline infrastructure delivery, this bill proposes a sweeping and unbalanced
permitting process that would severely undermine local governments’ ability to manage
public infrastructure, protect community safety, and coordinate across overlapping utility
and transportation systems.
As a full-service city responsible for maintaining complex and aging infrastructure—including
water, wastewater, stormwater, energy coordination, and multimodal transportation
systems—the City of San Luis Obispo has serious concerns about how this bill would operate
in practice. The prescriptive timelines and default-approval mechanisms in SB 445 ignore the
real-world complexity of infrastructure coordination, environmental review, and public
engagement. We regularly work with Caltrans, utilities, and regional partners on multi-
layered projects that require flexibility, not rigid state-imposed deadlines or the threat of
automatic approvals
SB 445 would significantly limit the City’s ability to protect critical local systems, including
water mains, sewer lines, and traffic safety infrastructure, particularly within our downtown
core and historic districts, where right-of-way is already constrained and project staging
requires thoughtful coordination. It appears to allow projects—public or private—to move
forward without resolving conflicts with existing infrastructure, potentially leading to service
disruptions, public safety risks, municipal liability exposure, or forced relocation of city assets
at local taxpayer expense.
Moreover, the bill empowers an unspecified third-party arbitrator—selected by the
California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) and unaccountable to the affected city—to
override local concerns, with no meaningful appeals process. This fundamentally shifts
decision-making away from locally elected bodies and experienced public works
professionals who are best positioned to evaluate project feasibility, community impact, and
long-term maintenance needs.
While we appreciate the intent behind accelerating delivery of transportation projects, SB
445 does so at the expense of collaborative planning, local accountability, and infrastructure
stewardship. We urge the Legislature to pause this proposal and engage cities directly in
developing a more workable framework that balances state goals with the legitimate
responsibilities and constraints faced by local governments.
For these reasons, the City of San Luis Obispo respectfully opposes SB 445 and requests that
the bill be made a two-year bill to allow for additional dialogue and refinement.
Sincerely,
Erica A. Stewart
Mayor
City of San Luis Obispo
Cc: Senator Scott Wiener
Assemblymember Dawn Addis
Senator John Laird
Dave Mullinax, League of California Cities
League of California Cities, cityletters@cacities.org