SB 1250 directs the Department of Transportation (the department) to take a systemwide look at the state highway network with the Department of Fish and Wildlife to identify where highway interventions could improve wildlife movement and reduce collisions. The bill frames this as a planning-first law: it requires a structured review, consultation with fish and wildlife experts, and public opportunities to submit data that will inform a statewide strategy for wildlife passage features.
The bill matters because it folds ecological connectivity into transportation decisionmaking at the state-highway scale rather than leaving it to ad hoc local projects. For transportation planners, environmental compliance teams, and conservation groups, SB 1250 creates a formal mechanism that can change how projects are prioritized, scoped, and funded across California’s highway portfolio.
At a Glance
What It Does
The bill requires the department, in consultation with the Department of Fish and Wildlife and other agencies, to establish an inventory of connectivity needs on the state highway system and to assess locations where wildlife passage features could reduce collisions or enhance connectivity. It also directs publication of that inventory and a list of funded transportation projects that include wildlife passage features, with periodic updates posted online.
Who It Affects
Caltrans and the Department of Fish and Wildlife must lead the effort; regional transportation agencies, project designers, right-of-way and permitting staff, and conservation organizations will be pulled into data-sharing and implementation conversations. Local landowners and regional planners will be affected when projects require acquisitions or ecological buffers.
Why It Matters
By creating a central, published inventory tied to funded projects, the bill changes the information landscape that governs project selection and design. Planners gain a statewide baseline for prioritizing crossings; conservation advocates gain a visible record of where the state plans to invest in connectivity; and project teams will need to account for wildlife passage considerations earlier in design and budgeting.
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What This Bill Actually Does
SB 1250 tells the state’s transportation department to look across the full state highway system and develop a coordinated approach to wildlife connectivity, working directly with the Department of Fish and Wildlife and inviting public data input. The goal is to identify highway locations where installing wildlife passage features — underpasses, overpasses, improved fencing, or other measures — would either reduce collisions or restore movement between habitats.
To do that, the bill requires the department and Fish and Wildlife to build a joint inventory of connectivity needs. The inventory must be guided by a set of considerations: how well a passage would improve connectivity within a landscape, the practical logistics of building it (including cost-effectiveness, land acquisition needs, and public support), and whether a project would produce climate-resilient linkages, lower wildlife-vehicle collisions, or contribute to the survival or recovery of species including those listed under federal or California endangered species law.
The bill also leaves room for ‘‘other relevant considerations’’ so agencies can add criteria as needed.SB 1250 directs that the inventory and a roster of funded transportation projects that include wildlife passage features be published on the department’s website. Those lists must be updated at least every two years, although the statute allows more frequent updates.
The bill creates a visible, recurring reporting requirement that connects planning-level analysis with a public record of where the state is investing in crossing infrastructure.The text contains duplicative and inconsistent phrasing (repeated agency names and overlapping publication clauses) that will require clarifying edits during drafting or implementation. It also ties planning to concrete procedural steps (public input, interagency consultation, and an online inventory) but does not itself appropriate construction funds or specify how projects move from inventory to funded construction.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The department and the Department of Fish and Wildlife must jointly create an inventory of state highway locations where wildlife passage features could reduce collisions or improve connectivity.
When establishing the inventory, agencies must consider connectivity efficacy, implementation logistics (cost-effectiveness, land acquisition, public support), and future functionality for movement and public safety.
The bill requires agencies to assess whether projects would increase climate-resilient connectivity, reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions, or aid the survival or recovery of species, explicitly listing federal and California endangered species frameworks.
The inventory and a list of funded transportation projects with wildlife passage features must be published on the department’s website and updated at least biennially, with the bill specifying a July 1, 2024 publication date in its text.
The statute authorizes public opportunities to provide data input for the inventory, making external datasets and stakeholder observations an explicit part of the planning record.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Legislative intent and systemwide review requirement
This subsection frames the purpose: the department shall review the full extent of the state highway system to develop a comprehensive approach to wildlife connectivity. It makes consultation with the Department of Fish and Wildlife mandatory and directs the department to provide opportunities for public data input. Practically, this creates a planning mandate rather than an immediate construction obligation — the department must compile information and set policy direction across highways it currently maintains.
Joint inventory and factors for site selection
Subsection (b) requires the department and Fish and Wildlife to establish a joint inventory of connectivity needs where wildlife passage features could reduce collisions or enhance connectivity. The provision lists specific factors the agencies must evaluate: ecological effectiveness, implementation logistics (including cost-effectiveness and land acquisition potential), public support, long-term movement and safety outcomes, climate resilience, collision reduction, and contributions to species survival under federal and California endangered-species statutes. This turns what might otherwise be a qualitative planning exercise into one guided by enumerated criteria that will shape prioritization and technical assessments.
Publication and updates of inventory and funded projects
This clause directs the agencies to publish the inventory and a list of funded transportation projects with wildlife passage features on the department’s website, and to update both biennially at minimum. The online publication creates transparency and gives stakeholders a persistent reference for where the state sees connectivity gaps and where it has already funded interventions. Because the statute ties the inventory to a public project list, it creates an implicit pipeline view from identification to funded action — though it does not create new funding authority itself.
Redundant project-listing requirement and drafting inconsistencies
A second clause repeats the requirement to publish a list of funded projects and to update it biennially. The bill text contains duplicated agency names and overlapping sentences that could create interpretive ambiguity about which agency publishes which list, and whether there are separate inventories or a single joint product. Implementers should expect the need to reconcile redundancies and clarify which office within the department maintains the public web pages and is responsible for updates.
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Explore Transportation in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Wildlife and at-risk species — The inventory prioritizes locations where crossings would measurably reduce fragmentation and collisions, directly supporting movement, gene flow, and potential recovery for listed or climate-vulnerable species.
- Motorists and public safety officials — By identifying collision hotspots and routing remedies, the plan aims to reduce wildlife-vehicle crashes, lowering human injuries, vehicle damage, and associated emergency response costs.
- Regional and local planners — A statewide inventory supplies technical justification and data that local agencies and MPOs can use to align projects, leverage funding, and incorporate crossings into regional transportation plans.
- Conservation NGOs and researchers — Publicly accessible inventories and the requirement for data input create a formal avenue to contribute science, remote-sensing datasets, and monitoring results that influence state prioritization.
- Tribes and rural communities — Where highways bisect culturally or ecologically important landscapes, the planning process offers a structured way for tribal governments and rural stakeholders to surface connectivity concerns and data.
Who Bears the Cost
- The Department of Transportation (Caltrans) — The department must lead the review, host the public inventory online, and incorporate wildlife considerations into planning workflows, which will consume staff time and technical resources.
- Department of Fish and Wildlife — CDFW must commit staff time to consultations, biological assessments, and ongoing updates without a funding stream specified in the text.
- State budget and project sponsors — While the bill establishes planning and publication duties, constructing crossings and securing land will require funding; those capital costs will fall to state budgets, regional transportation agencies, or specific project sponsors when projects move from inventory to implementation.
- Local landowners and agencies — Where projects require ecological buffers or right-of-way acquisitions, private landowners or local governments may face negotiations, easements, or land purchases that create transaction costs and possible resistance.
- Contractors and designers — Technical standards, monitoring, and design work for wildlife features add complexity and cost to project designs and procurement.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central tension is between ecological ambition and transport practicality: SB 1250 aims to direct State agencies to identify and prioritize the most effective locations for wildlife crossings, but achieving meaningful connectivity often requires expensive land acquisitions, construction, and interjurisdictional cooperation — trade-offs that pit species recovery and long-term climate resilience against near-term costs, engineering constraints, and public acceptance.
Several implementation challenges and trade-offs are embedded in SB 1250. First, the bill mandates planning and publication but does not provide construction funding or specify how prioritized sites make the jump to implementation; absent a funding link, the inventory risks becoming descriptive rather than actionable.
Second, the requirement to consider land acquisition feasibility and public support as selection criteria pits ecological priority against practical deliverability — locations that are ecologically optimal may be prohibitively expensive or politically fraught to secure.
Data and metric issues will matter. The statute invites public data input, which broadens the evidence base but raises questions about data quality, standardization, and the criteria for weighting citizen-submitted observations versus scientific telemetry or roadkill datasets.
Interagency coordination is another friction point: the bill names Caltrans and Fish and Wildlife but leaves open how MPOs, local permitting agencies, tribal governments, and federal regulators will be integrated into implementation and environmental review. Finally, the text contains drafting errors and duplicated publication clauses that create ambiguity about roles and deadlines, which will require clarifying guidance or statutory cleanup to avoid conflicting interpretations.
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