1 POSITION LETTERS (Attachment 3)
As of July 15, 2025
Attachment 3 includes City of Chino position letters on legislation and regulations submitted since the prior report. The attached letter(s) were submitted on behalf of the City during this reporting period.
EUNICE M. ULLOA KAREN C. COMSTOCK
Mayor CHRISTOPHER FLORES
MARC LUCIO
Council Members
CURTIS BURTON DR. LINDA REICH
Mayor Pro Tem City Manager
CITY of CHINO
13220 Central Avenue, Chino, California 91710
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 667, Chino, California 91708-0667 (909) 334-3250 • (909) 334-3720 Fax
Web Site: www.cityofchino.org
July 1, 2025
The Honorable Lori Wilson, Chair
Assembly Transportation Committee
1020 N Street, Suite 112
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: Opposition to SB 445 (Wiener) – As Amended June 30, 2025, Sustainable Transportation Project Delivery Reform Act – OPPOSE
Dear Chair Wilson,
I write on behalf of the City of Chino in opposition to SB 445 (Wiener), as amended on June 30, 2025.
As a municipality responsible for potable water, stormwater, and transportation infrastructure across 30 square miles , the City of Chino has significant operational and permitting responsibilities that would be directly and negatively affected by the changes proposed in SB 445.
While we support efforts to streamline the delivery of sustainable transportation projects, SB 445 imposes rigid procedural requirements on local agencies and utilities without providing adequate protections for critical infrastructure oversight, cost accountability, or public safety.
One major concern is the bill’s provision allowing the Secretary of Transportation to waive, i.e., override, locally adopted design and permitting standards when they are deemed to conflict with the delivery of transportation projects. This would bypass local review, even in cases where public safety or system reliability may be at risk.
The bill also establishes a binding dispute resolution process that provides transportation agencies with the power to challenge permit denials or delays. While municipalities and utilities may participate in the process, they have no say in selecting mediators or arbitrators, and the outcomes are not subject to appeal. This reduces an agency’s ability to defend legitimate technical, operational, or public safety concerns.
In addition, SB 445 requires all third parties, including cities, to publicly post every permit requirement and related “objective” standard by July 1, 2026. Any unpublished or “subjective” standard may not be enforced. While greater clarity is welcome, the bill will inadvertently invalidate essential practices that rely on case-by-case engineering judgment or site-specific review.
Furthermore, the bill also places financial risk on local agencies by requiring them to pay for facility upgrades (“betterments”) that go beyond what is strictly needed for the project. Even when upgrades Hon. Lori Wilson
July 1, 2025, p.2
are driven by project design changes, the city may be left with the cost unless it objects early in the process.
The City of Chino supports efficient project delivery ; however, SB 445, as amended, would weaken local authority, unnecessarily shift costs to cities and utilities, and limit our ability to protect essential and critical infrastructure. For these reasons, we respectfully urge the Committee to oppose this measure in its current form. If you have any questions regarding this correspondence, please contact Deputy City Manager Vivian Castro at [email protected] or (909) 334-3307.
Sincerely,
Linda Reich
City Manager
cc: The Honorable Michelle Rodriguez
The Honorable Phillip Chen
Hye Jin Lee, Director of Public Works
EUNICE M. ULLOA KAREN C. COMSTOCK
Mayor CHRISTOPHER FLORES
MARC LUCIO
Council Members
CURTIS BURTON DR. LINDA REICH
Mayor Pro Tem City Manager
CITY of CHINO
13220 Central Avenue, Chino, California 91710
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 667, Chino, California 91708-0667 (909) 334-3250 • (909) 334-3720 Fax
Web Site: www.cityofchino.org
June 13, 2025
The Honorable Norma Torres
2227 Rayburn House Office Building
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Via email: [email protected] and [email protected]
RE: Bigger Trucks: Bad for America’s Local Communities
Dear Congresswoman Torres,
The City of Chino’s transportation infrastructure is a key part of our community’s economic vitality and quality of life. For this reason, we ask that you oppose any proposals in Congress to allow any increase in truck length or weight. Longer double-trailer trucks or heavier single -trailer trucks would only make the current situation worse. Allowing heavier and longer trucks will most certainly set us back in our efforts to improve the condition and safety of our transportation infrastructure, especially in our City and region, which have a heavy concentration of logistics businesses and a large volume of trucks.
Much of our transportation infrastructure that connects people to jobs, schools, and leisure is in disrepair, in part because local and rural roads and bridges are older and not built to the same standards as i nterstates.
Because of underfunded budgets, many cities cannot keep up with maintenance schedules and replacement costs. The impacts of longer or heavier tractor-trailers would only worsen these problems. Millions of miles of truck traffic operate on local roads and bridges across the country, and any bigger trucks allowed on our interstates would mean additional trucks that ultimately find their way onto our local infrastructure.
Longer and heavier trucks would cause significantly more damage to our transportation infrastructure, costing us billions of dollars that local government budgets simply cannot afford, compromising the very routes that American motorists use every day. We ask that you oppose any legislation that would allow any increase in truck length or weight. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Deputy City Manager Vivian Castro at [email protected] or 909-334-3307.
Sincerely,
Linda Reich
City Manager
cc: Public Works Director Hye Jin Lee
Transportation Engineer Dennis Ralls