The Great Redwood Trail Agency.

Senator McGuire’s measure would establish the Great Redwood Trail Agency as a subdivision of the state and set forth a defined governance, budgeting, and operational framework to oversee rail rights‑of‑way and accompanying trails along the North Coast. The proposal centers the agency’s authority to plan, design, construct, operate, and maintain trails parallel to rail corridors, with a governance structure and fiscal controls designed to formalize its remit and oversight.

The bill would reframe the agency’s leadership and accountability mechanisms. The board would include two county supervisor appointees from each of Humboldt, Marin, Mendocino, and Sonoma, plus a city representative chosen by the cities served by the rail line through a process adopted by the board. In addition, the Governor could appoint nonvoting directors from the Transportation Agency and the Natural Resources Agency. Members other than the nonvoting directors would serve two‑year terms. The measure also contemplates compatibility provisions allowing some cross‑appointment between agency and other public offices. The board would adopt an annual budget, require regular audits, and maintain accounting records in conformance with generally accepted accounting principles. For work not performed by agency personnel that exceeds a defined threshold, competitive bidding procedures would apply.

The bill expands the agency’s powers and coordination frameworks while clarifying certain exemptions and relationships with other public entities. The agency would be authorized to contract, acquire or lease property, fix fees for land uses or services within its purview (excluding public access fees), make grants, and borrow or encumber property as needed to support rail and trail purposes. It would be able to receive funds from the State Coastal Conservancy or other state sources, contract with law enforcement to enforce adopted rules, and staff the agency through hires or outside contracts. The measure would exempt the agency from local building and zoning ordinances in most cases and would shield certain uses of agency real property from the surplus property disposition laws. It would exempt railroad tracks and ties within the right‑of‑way from downstream health and hazardous waste controls under specific conditions.

Key programmatic and naming changes are also included. The act would designate the agency as a state subdivision and, in coordination with the Public Utilities Commission framework, realign trail and facilities naming to designate certain segments as the Great Redwood Trail, with explicit clarifications that the Larkspur‑to‑Golden Gate Bridge pathway is the Great Redwood Trail and that those facilities are not assets of the agency subject to its environmental review. The measure would authorize partnerships with trail agencies and designate a single point of contact for rights and responsibilities related to the agency’s rail right‑of‑way south of the dividing line. Finally, the authors indicate the measure would impose a state‑mandated local program, with reimbursement to local agencies if the state mandates costs, consistent with existing mandate reimbursement statutes.