Elk Grove gets a second seat on Sacramento Regional Transit board after Capitol bill signing

Elk Grove will soon get a second seat on Sacramento Regional Transit’s governing board after a new California bill was signed into law on Thursday.

Assembly Bill 354, signed by Senate President pro tem Toni Atkins — serving as acting governor in the absence of both Gov. Gavin Newsom and Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis — is expected to give the south Sacramento County city a greater say in the transit system, said the Elk Grove lawmaker who carried the bill. The seat on the transit system’s board of directors opens in January 2024.

Assemblywoman Stephanie Nguyen, D-Elk Grove, sponsored the bill. The former Elk Grove councilwoman said the legislation “will ensure that the people of Elk Grove, Sacramento County’s second largest city, have a stronger voice in transit matters that affect their day-to-day lives,” in a statement announcing the bill’s signing.

The local transit agency operates the light rail system and bus routes that run through Sacramento County.

The added RT board seat is the first for Elk Grove since its incorporation in July 2000. In the ensuing decades, Elk Grove has become one of the fastest growing cities in California, more than doubling in size from 81,000 residents in 2000 to more than 178,000 today.

Three members of the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors join four Sacramento city council members and a single council member each from Citrus Heights, Folsom and Rancho Cordova on the transit board, in addition to what will soon be two Elk Grove seats.

The added Elk Grove seat reflects the city’s growth, said Henry Li, Sacramento Regional Transit general manager and chief executive officer. In a statement, Li said, with the bill, the transit board “will more accurately reflect demographic representation and equity following recent annexation agreements,” adding that the change “will ensure all voices have representation on SacRT’s Board.”

Sacramento Regional Transit took over operation of Elk Grove’s e-tran transit system in 2019.

The signing of AB 354 was itself part of history: Atkins, D-San Diego, became the first openly LGBTQ person in California’s history to sign a bill into state law, as she signed Nguyen’s bill and two other pieces of legislation on Thursday, Atkins said in social media posts.