Press Release
Posted:
Washington – Today, Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-04) voted to pass the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024, a set of six domestic funding bills focused on helping families and communities across the United States. The investments in the bill will help families with the cost of living, create and sustain good-paying jobs, and help people in need.
“Funding the government is one of the most important responsibilities for Congress, and today’s set of bills, while not perfect, will fund our government and ensure we can continue working to keep our economy strong,” said Thompson. “These bills include funding I secured for priority projects in Sonoma County, and I look forward to seeing President Biden sign this bill into law.”
The Consolidated Appropriations Act included $3,014,279 in funding for three projects in Sonoma County. The projects are:
• $1,116,279 for the Highway 37 Tolay Creek Bridge Replacement and Restoration Project
• $1,000,000 for the Highway 116/West Cotati Intersection Safety Improvement Project
• $898,000 for the Santa Rosa Community Violence Reduction Project
Background on these projects can be found below.
The Highway 37 Tolay Creek Bridge Replacement and Restoration Project will replace the existing 60-foot-long two-lane SR 37 bridge over Tolay Creek. The new bridge will: allow for implementation of the lower Sonoma Creek Baylands strategy that includes Tolay Restoration, examine feasibility of designing long-term project elevations, support the transition to long-term project elevations consistent with integration of SMART including possible grade separation, provide a barrier separated Class I bicycle path to close a gap in the Bay Trail and improve safety, all within the timeline of the Sears Point to Mare Island Interim Project delivery. The proposed project will have multiple benefits including: relieving congestion and improving safety in the corridor by fixing a bottleneck that creates long queues, delays, and crashes; allowing for an increase in tidal prism that is needed for restoration of the San Pablo Baylands as identified in the Sonoma Creek Baylands Strategy to mitigate for projected sea-level rise in the corridor; closing a gap in connectivity and safety for bicyclists and pedestrians on the San Francisco Bay Trail.; reducing greenhouse gas emissions; improving safety and quality of life; and improving access for equity priority communities.
The Highway 116/West Cotati Intersection Safety Improvement Project would address safety issues by re-aligning the Highway 116/West Cotati Intersection by installing a new traffic signal and associated turn lanes to provide refuge for turning vehicles and bicyclists, as well as greatly improving connectivity and safety for bicycles and pedestrians through the addition of safe crossing points. This project is also located within a designated priority development area (PDA) and will remove a key barrier to much needed housing adjacent to existing public transit for working families. The intersection of Highway 116/West Cotati Avenue is at a highly skewed angle, is unsignalized and requires turning vehicles to stop in the same lane as high-speed traffic, leading to high-speed rear end collisions and fatalities. This project addresses a very dangerous intersection and a section of state highway also has no crossing points, which prevents the safe crossing of pedestrians and bicyclists.
The Santa Rosa Community Violence Reduction Project would allow the Santa Rosa Police Department to establish a Real Time Crime Center (RTCC), which will provide immediate information to enhance SRPD’s ability to detect, investigate, and prevent violent criminal activity. New technology and equipment will augment the City’s community policing efforts by providing SRPD officers with technologies and equipment that will help them respond to crime events more efficiently, more deliberately, with improved operational intelligence, and with a proactive emphasis on officer, citizen, and community safety.
This first government package invests in America’s future and delivers for the American people by:
• Helping with the high cost of living, creating and sustaining tens of thousands of good paying jobs, fighting inflation, and providing full funding for key lifelines such as food assistance and more affordable housing and homeownership.
• Protecting women’s rights by blocking attempts to limit women’s access to reproductive health care, including abortion, and by increasing funding for gender-based violence prevention and prosecution programs.
• Confronting the climate crisis, fighting climate change, and ensuring America’s energy independence with robust, transformative investments in deploying clean energy technologies in communities across the country, and providing funding for cutting-edge scientific and climate-related research.
• Honoring our commitments to our veterans by ensuring they receive the care and benefits that they have earned and investing in veterans’ health care, including targeted investments that advance women's health, mental health, and homelessness assistance.
• Funds community projects: Responds directly to pressing needs in Lake County and districts like mine by supporting underserved areas and fostering the economic development that makes communities healthier, safer, and stronger through community projects.
This package includes the following funding bills: Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies; Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies; Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies; Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies; Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies; and Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies.
The remaining six appropriations bills for fiscal year 2024 are expected to be released in the coming days and be voted on ahead of their expiration on March 22.