Assembly BillPassed both housesPublic Resources
AB 2059: California Environmental Quality Act: transportation impacts: vehicle miles traveled: mitigation.
What AB 2059 does, verified September 17, 2026
The bill aims to modify the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to address transportation impacts on the environment. The proposed changes would establish a 5% limit on the total cost of mitigation measures required to address significant transportation impacts as determined by the vehicle miles traveled metric. Mitigation measures exceeding this limit would be deemed economically infeasible. The bill also requires the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation to develop criteria for determining the significance of transportation impacts, promoting the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the development of multimodal transportation networks. Additionally, the bill would require the use of vehicle miles traveled as a metric to measure transportation impacts.
Bill journey
✓IntroducedComplete
✓In CommitteeComplete
✓First Chamber FloorComplete
✓Second ChamberComplete
5GovernorCurrent
6ChapteredPending
Last action: Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m. (2026-09-15)Alert me
Author and sponsors
Full contact details, staff, and committees with Connect, $15/moUnlockRecent actions26 total · showing 5
| Sep. 15, 2026 | Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m. |
| Aug. 31, 2026 | Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 76. Noes 0.). |
| Aug. 31, 2026 | In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. |
| Aug. 31, 2026 | Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0.). |
| Aug. 26, 2026 | Read second time. Ordered to third reading. |
Latest bill textEnrolled version, September 4, 2026 · 1,165 words
| Enrolled September 04, 2026 |
| Passed IN Senate August 31, 2026 |
| Passed IN Assembly August 31, 2026 |
| Amended IN Senate August 25, 2026 |
| Amended IN Senate August 13, 2026 |
| Amended IN Assembly April 22, 2026 |
| Amended IN Assembly March 19, 2026 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 2059
| Introduced by Assembly Member Wilson (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Rivas) (Coauthors: Assembly Members Aguiar-Curry, Carrillo, and Hoover) |
February 18, 2026 |
An act to add Section 21081.4 to the Public Resources Code, relating to environmental quality.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2059, Wilson. California Environmental Quality Act: transportation impacts: vehicle miles traveled: mitigation.
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment.
CEQA requires the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation to prepare, develop, and transmit to the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency for certification and adoption proposed revisions to the CEQA implementation guidelines to establish criteria for determining the significance of transportation impacts of projects within transit priority areas, and requires the criteria to promote the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the development of multimodal transportation networks, and a diversity of land uses. CEQA requires the office to recommend potential metrics, including, among other metrics, vehicle miles traveled, to measure these transportation impacts.
This bill would require the Department of Transportation, in consultation with specified entities, to, on or before December 31, 2030, develop guidance on vehicle-miles-travel mitigation measures for transportation projects in nonmetropolitan counties, as provided. The bill would require the department to publish the guidance on its internet website and add the guidance as an addendum to the Transportation Analysis Framework and the Transportation Analysis under CEQA. The bill would specify that a transportation project for which the lead agency has issued a notice of preparation for the project’s environmental impact report on or before December 31, 2031 is presumed to have a less than significant transportation impact as determined by the vehicle-miles-traveled metric if at least 70% of the project lies within one or more nonmetropolitan counties. Because the bill would impose additional duties on a lead agency in its analysis of significant transportation impacts, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 21081.4 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:21081.4.
(a) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:(1) “Demonstrated evacuation need” means a project that is specifically identified as necessary to provide evacuation capacity for the affected area in an adopted local hazard mitigation plan, general plan safety element, local emergency operations plan, or other local or regional emergency evacuation plan approved by a city, county, or regional planning agency through a public process.
(2) “Demonstrated safety need” means a project for which the lead agency demonstrates, through documented collision, injury, or fatality data specific to the project location, or through a risk-based or systemic safety analysis consistent with state and federal guidance, that the proposed project includes safety countermeasures that are necessary to reduce the number and severity of injuries or the number of fatalities, including reducing specific risks to vulnerable road users.
(3) “Nonmetropolitan county” means a nonmetropolitan county designated by the Methodology for Determining Rural Status of Project Site for 2025 Applications issued by the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee on January 1, 2025.
(4) “Transportation project” means a project undertaken by a public agency that consists of the planning, design, construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, improvement, expansion, or operation of a highway, road, bridge, transit facility, rail facility, bicycle or pedestrian facility, or other public transportation infrastructure.
(b) (1) The Department of Transportation, in consultation with the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation and the SB 743 Implementation Working Group Rural VMT Action Subcommittee, shall, on or before December 31, 2030, develop guidance on vehicle-miles-travel mitigation measures for transportation projects in nonmetropolitan counties. The guidance shall include all of the following:
(A) Case studies exemplifying the range of costs of vehicle-miles-travel mitigation measures for transportation projects in nonmetropolitan counties compared to the costs in metropolitan counties.
(B) A review of direct and indirect vehicle-miles-travel mitigation measures and examples of direct and indirect vehicle-miles-travel mitigation measures that have been used for transportation projects in nonmetropolitan counties.
(C) Identification of barriers to implementing vehicle-miles-travel mitigation measures for transportation projects in nonmetropolitan counties.
(D) Recommendations for processes for lead agencies and project developers to identify and implement appropriate vehicle-miles-travel mitigation measures for transportation projects in nonmetropolitan areas, including recommendations for processes of consultation with stakeholders, coordination with local jurisdiction and regional transportation planning organizations, and engaging with the community, as appropriate.
(E) Recommendations for appropriate vehicle-miles-travel significance thresholds for transportation projects in nonmetropolitan areas that do not add general purpose lanes to the state highway system unless there is a demonstrated safety or evacuation need for the project.
(2) The Department of Transportation shall publish the guidance on its internet website. The guidance shall also be added as an addendum to the Transportation Analysis Framework and the Transportation Analysis under CEQA.
(c) (1) A transportation project is presumed to have a less than significant transportation impact as determined by the vehicle-miles-traveled metric developed pursuant to Section 21099 if at least 70 percent of the project lies within one or more nonmetropolitan counties.
(2) Paragraph (1) does not apply to a transportation project that adds one or more general purpose lanes to the state highway system unless there is a demonstrated safety or evacuation need for the project.
(3) The presumption pursuant to paragraph (1) shall only apply to an eligible project for which the lead agency issues a notice of preparation for the project’s environmental impact report on or before December 31, 2031.
SEC. 2.
No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because a local agency or school district has the authority to levy service charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or level of service mandated by this act, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code.Text of AB 2059 as enrolled, from the official record. Connect Plus keeps every version and highlights what changed.Compare versions