Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has the exclusive power to, among other things, determine and prescribe the manner and the terms of installation, operation, maintenance, use, and protection of specified railroad crossings and to authorize on an application-by-application basis and supervise the operation of pilot projects to evaluate proposed crossing warning devices, new technology, or other additional safety measures at designated crossings, with the consent of the local jurisdiction, the affected railroad, and other interested parties, including, but not limited to, represented railroad employees.

This bill would require the commission, if a city or county develops and adopts, by resolution upon a majority vote of the city council or the board of supervisors, a plan to improve mobility for multimodal access that calls for new or modified railroad crossings, to make an engineer available from the Rail Crossings and Engineering Branch to assist and advise that city or county on the safety of the planned railroad crossings before the filing of an application to the commission for the approval of the new or modified railroad crossings.