SACRAMENTO – The State Senate Committee on Transportation & Housing on Tuesday passed three bills by Sen. Patricia Wiggins: SB 735 (CalTrans tracking of recycled materials), SB 773 (vehicle length exemptions for livestock carriers), and SB 861 (North Coast Railroad Authority).

A fourth measure, SJR 4 (Klamath River salmon), was also approved today by the Senate Natural Resources & Water Committee.

Following are brief summaries of each of the Wiggins bills approved in their respective committees:

– SB 735, to require the state Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to establish a system for tracking the amount of recycled aggregated materials used in highway construction projects and report the information to the Legislature every two years (the Senator’s goal is to help divert usable materials such as recycled asphalt and crushed concrete away from landfills and toward road construction).

– SB 773, to waive trucking restrictions on U.S. Highway 101 for local cattle ranchers (the restrictions have forced many North Coast ranchers to ship their livestock out of the area and then re-load them on to bigger trucks elsewhere, increasing costs).

– SB 861, to enable the North Coast Railroad Authority to reallocate $5.5 million of Traffic Congestion Relief Program revenues toward environmental cleanup.

– SJR4, to declare Legislative support for efforts in Congress to provide assistance to fishing communities, businesses and individuals to mitigate the economic losses caused by declining populations of Klamath River fall chinook salmon.

Patricia Wiggins represents California’s 2nd Senate District, which includes part of Solano County plus all of Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Napa & Sonoma counties.

To read committee analysis of the first three bills visit the following links.

– http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/sen/sb_0701-0750/sb_735_cfa_20070405_162138_sen_comm.html

– http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/sen/sb_0751-0800/sb_773_cfa_20070405_162219_sen_comm.html

– http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/sen/sb_0851-0900/sb_861_cfa_20070405_162250_sen_comm.html

 

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