Advocates from around the state will be coming to Sacramento Wednesday, March 15, to lobby for Asm. Chris Holden’s AB 610, and funding for fare-free student transit passes. This is the day Assembly Budget Subcommittee #3 will have its hearing on transportation (and climate, resources and energy) and the budget is key to whether the bill moves forward.  

The budget subcommittee meeting starts at 9:30 a.m. and we urge you to join us in Sacramento or call in to provide public comment. But check first to make sure that AB 610 passed out of the Assembly Transportation Committee on Monday (we are pretty sure that it will). You can find out here: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/ if you enter the bill number (AB 610).

We are pretty sure that it will have passed but the bigger issue that could stop the bill is the budget. FYI last year the same bill did make it all the way to the governor’s desk with only one no vote, but it was vetoed by Gov. Newsom because of concerns about the budget.

There will be no public comment until the end of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee #3 meeting—and it’s difficult to know how long it will last. But your comments about the importance of the bill—to help students afford going to school, to college and to work, and to curb climate change, etc.—could be essential to moving the bill forward.

We will be gathering at 10 a.m. on the south side of the state Capitol to distribute talking points and plan who will speak and when, and then we’ll enter the building together and go to Room 447 where the bill will be heard.

At 1 p.m. we’ll gather on the West Steps of the Capitol for a student transit pass rally, with Asm. Holden and co-author Asm. Tasha Boerner Horvath— more legislators are likely to join—as speakers. There will be food, signs and chanting, and if you have a bullhorn bring it!

Following the rally from 2-4 p.m. we will lobby legislators and/or their staff—especially those on Assembly and Senate Budget committees. It will be a very busy day but we can guarantee that it will be fun and memorable!

There are social media graphics HERE that you can use to advertise the need for fare-free transit. And between now and then please consider sending an email to your legislator and/or sign on to our letter: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/student-transit-passes-ab610

And if you want some talking points you can find some HERE (I'll make a list using the ones you used), and write your own using this interesting 2-pager on reducing student poverty, reaching educational goals, increasing transit ridership and slowing climate change HERE. 

Lastly, following up with legislators by sending a thank you note does have an impact, and you could email your legislator our coalition letter HERE (or use our letter to help you write your own letter—which is always best).

SEE YOU IN THE CAPITOL OF CALIFORNIA!