Could you get a parking ticket in Sacramento under a new California law in 2025?
.JPG "A parking enforcement officer issues a warning for a car parked on 24th Street in midtown Sacramento on Monday, March 23, 2020. Officers are currently issuing warnings under a new state law to people parked within 20 feet of intersections.")
Sacramento is not yet enforcing a new state law that disallows a lot of parking within 20 feet of intersections, known as daylighting, to help protect pedestrians from death and serious injury.
Statewide, more than 1,000 pedestrians die in traffic each year.
A spokesperson for Sacramento’s Department of Public Works, Gabby Miller, said that city staff were working on implementation plans.
“We are currently issuing warnings,” she said. “This will continue until a new fine is approved and in effect.”
Under the state law, legislated as Assembly Bill 413, drivers must park at least 20 feet away from an intersection on the approach to that intersection. If the intersection has a “bulb out” in which the curb extends several feet into the road, then drivers may park 15 feet away from the approach.
The intention of the so-called daylighting law, authored by Assemblymember Alex Lee, D-Milpitas, is to increase visibility at pedestrian crossings. With extra distance, pedestrians are better able to see approaching drivers in the lanes closest to them as they enter the intersection. Likewise, drivers can better see — and stop for — pedestrians at the curb.
UC Berkeley’s Transportation Injury Mapping System shows that between 2019 and 2023, more than 1,000 pedestrians died every year in California. Many more pedestrians were severely injured.
Sacramento has some of the highest numbers of traffic deaths per capita in the state. Last year, 20 pedestrians and cyclists were killed on city streets in Sacramento: Mattie Nicholson, 56; Kate Johnston, 55; Jeffrey Blain, 59; Aaron Ward, 40; Sam Dent, 41; Terry Lane, 55; David Rink, 51; James Lind, 54; Tyler Vandehei, 32; Jose Valladolid Ramirez, 36; Larry Winters, 76; Sau Voong, 84; Johnnie A. Fite, 82; Robert Kohler Jr., 50; Edward Lopez, 61; Muhammad Saddique, 64; Azure Amonti Daniels, 48; Jordan Nicolas Rodriguez, 38; Nelson Lee, 64; and Lindie Kraushar, 53.
How much will tickets cost? City Council will decide
The daylighting law was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2023 and was in partial effect in 2024 — municipalities could issue warnings.
In order to begin handing out tickets, Miller said, the City Council would need to approve a new fine in the next budget. That budget will be passed in June and go into effect in July. Still, she said, if a new fine is approved, it’s too early to say whether fines would be levied in July.
The city is incorporating the new law into its plans for new road projects. California does not require curbs to be painted red or for “No Parking” signs to be present, but city staff will add those elements at many intersections.
The current fine on the books for parking in a red zone is $100. The fine for blocking a crosswalk is $60.
The city, Miller said, has not yet identified the total number of parking spaces that would be affected by the new law. Staff are assessing which meters and spaces workers would have to remove.
