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- Written by: Editor
Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA-04) has joined Senator Peter Welch (D-VT) and Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) to introduce the Bicycle Commuter Act of 2025, bicameral legislation that would reinstate and expand the Bicycle Benefit Subsidy Program’s non-taxable bicycle commuter benefit to encourage more Americans to bike to work.
“Cycling is efficient, low-cost, and low-impact on our roads and the environment — in other words, it’s good for you and for our planet. Encouraging people to bike to work just makes sense,” said Thompson, co-chair of the Congressional Bike Caucus. “I’m glad to work with Senators Welch and Padilla on this bicameral legislation restoring and modernizing bike commuters’ tax benefits.”
“The perks of biking to work are tenfold–saving commuters money, providing health benefits, and helping reduce emissions. An increasing number of Vermonters have recognized those benefits, with the number of cycling commuters doubling in the Green Mountain State in the past decade. But there’s more that we can do to strengthen biking infrastructure to help more folks around the country enjoy the advantages of cycling to work,” said Senator Welch. “Our bicameral legislation will reinstate and modernize the bicycling tax benefit to encourage more commuters around the country to get to work by riding a bicycle.”
“Biking to work is good for our planet, our health, and our wallets,” said Sen. Padilla. “The Bicycle Commuter Act would allow cyclists to take advantage of the same tax benefits that incentivize hardworking Americans to commute via public transit or carpool, while also helping keep our air clean and reduce congestion on our roads. It would also expand these commuter tax benefits to e-bikes, bikeshares, and certain scooters, further encouraging bike ridership and putting money back in the pockets of workers.”
In 2009, Congress created the Bicycle Benefit Subsidy Program to encourage more workers to bike to their jobs by allowing employers to offer a non-taxable reimbursement of up to $20 per month for expenses related to bicycle commuting.
However, employees who elected to participate in the program were forced to forfeit other commuter benefits, such as those provided for parking or transit.
The non-taxable bicycle commuter benefit was suspended until 2026 by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, eliminating this vital financial incentive for employees who bike to work.
The Bicycle Commuter Act of 2025 would modernize the Bicycle Benefit Subsidy Program to ensure cyclists can access pre-tax commuter benefits similar to those available for parking and public transit and allow recipients to claim the bicycle benefit in tandem with other commuter benefits.
The bicameral legislation would also allow electric bicycles and bikeshare and scootershare services to be eligible for the benefit.
The Bicycle Commuter Act is supported by the Association for Commuter Transportation, League of American Bicyclists, North American Bikeshare and Scootershare Association, PeopleForBikes, Rails to Trails Conservancy, Safe Routes Partnership, and Sierra Club.
Thompson represents California’s Fourth Congressional District, which includes all or part of Lake, Napa, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo counties.
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- Written by: California Department of Social Services
On Thursday, the California Department of Social Services, or CDSS, announced that SUN Bucks electronic benefit transfer cards have started arriving in the mail for families across the state.
California’s Summer electronic benefit transfer, or EBT, program, known as SUN Bucks, provides families $40 per month for food in June, July, and August ($120 total) when children do not have access to school meals.
“We are proud that California was one of the first states in the nation to launch this new federal program last year, which is helping families in need across California,” CDSS Director Jennifer Troia said. “Last year, nearly $500 million in food purchases were made using SUN Bucks food benefits by families and caregivers in California.”
More than four million eligible children in California are automatically enrolled in the program. Households with automatically enrolled children will receive their cards by the end of July 2025.
Eligible children who are not automatically enrolled in the program will need to apply with their school to get benefits.
How SUN Bucks works
Most children are automatically enrolled if they qualify for free or reduced-price meals at school or receive CalFresh, California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids, or CalWORKs, and/or Medi-Cal benefits (certified at or below 185 percent of the Federal Poverty Level).
Children identified by their school as being in foster care, experiencing homelessness, or part of a migrant family are also automatically enrolled.
Children who are not automatically enrolled may apply by submitting a school meal application or Universal Benefits Application to their school by Sept. 2, 2025, to receive SUN Bucks benefits for summer 2025.
Due to the large number of automatically enrolled children, SUN Bucks EBT card issuances will occur in two stages:
- Stage 1: Automatically enrolled children will receive their cards from early June through July 2025. Cards will be mailed in alphabetical order according to the child’s last name.
• Stage 2: Children determined eligible after the start of Stage 1 will begin receiving their cards in September 2025 until mailings are complete.
Regardless of when a SUN Bucks EBT card is mailed or received, funds must be used within 122 days of the funds being added to the card, per federal guidelines. Any unused funds on the card will expire after 122 days. Expired benefits cannot be replaced. Visit the CDSS website for more information.
Participation in SUN Bucks will have no bearing on eligibility for CalFresh or any other public benefit program. Children who receive SUN Bucks may still participate in other summer meal options, such as SUN Meals.
About the SUN Bucks program: In December 2022, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, which created a new, permanent Summer EBT program for states to provide food benefits to families beginning in 2024. In July 2023, California passed Assembly Bill 120, establishing CDSS as the lead implementing agency, in partnership with the California Department of Education, to maximize Summer EBT program participation for 2024. This program continues to be rolled-out in many parts of the country.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Library Literacy Program is in need of volunteer tutors for its Adult and English as a Second Language, or ESL, programs in the Clearlake and Middletown areas.
The literacy programs offer one-on-one tutoring to learners ages 16 and older to improve their reading, writing, and conversation skills. Virtual tutoring is also available.
Volunteer tutors bilingual in Spanish are especially needed, along with tutors willing to work with adults with learning or developmental disabilities.
No experience is necessary to become a literacy tutor as long as one has patience, a desire to help others, and a good command of the English language.
Tutor training, where volunteers learn useful techniques for teaching adults to read, is provided free of cost, along with ongoing support. Upon completion of tutor training, tutors will be matched with learners, with tutoring hours being flexible for both the tutor and learner; sessions are typically held once per week for one hour.
Recent Adult Skills Survey data determined that Lake County had a 26% literacy proficiency level of at or below level 1, the lowest level.
Becoming a tutor can help someone to a better future. Many adults want to improve their reading and writing skills so they can access better jobs, further their own education, advocate for their children, and overall improve their way of life. Through hard work and perseverance, adult learners can change their own, and their family’s lives, for the better.
If you are interested in becoming a literacy tutor or know someone who could benefit from our services, please call 707-263-7633 or email
Visit https://library.lakecountyca.gov/836/Literacy-Program to read more about the literacy programs. Your volunteerism could help change a life.
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LAKEPORT, Calif. — Concerned community members from across Lake County will gather in Lakeport’s Old Courthouse Museum Park at noon on Saturday, June 14, to take part in a broad-based, peaceful protest called “NO KINGS Nationwide Day of Defiance.”
The actions are set to take place during Donald Trump’s June 14 birthday military parade in Washington, D.C. It will also be the 250 th anniversary of the first shots fired in the American Revolution — in defiance of the authoritarian rule of King George III.
Instead of allowing this military parade to dominate the day, millions of activists will gather, not in Washington, but in Philadelphia and towns big and small across the country to demonstrate in favor of democracy and the rule of law.
Though the Lakeport rally is organized by the Lake County Democratic Club, it is fully supported by Indivisible Lake County, a nonpartisan group composed of citizens from across the political spectrum who are deeply concerned by the corrupt and dictatorial tendencies of the Trump Administration.
Indivisible Lake County is one of some 1,500 local chapters of the national Indivisible movement.
The Lake County Chapter is a rapidly expanding group of concerned community members founded in March by a leadership team including Peter Windrem, Dr. Gary Maes, Denise Rushing, Annette Hopkins, Bernie Butcher, Elizabeth Montgomery, Bill Groody, Karen Pavone, Gary Olson and Orla O’Keefe.
Citing such examples as deportations and mass civil servant firings without due process, targeting of individual and institutional perceived “enemies,” unprecedented personal corruption, usurpation of the constitutional powers of Congress, and defiance of court orders, the Indivisible leadership group urges Lake County citizens to “join together in rejecting Trump’s authoritarian vision and showing the wannabe king what democracy looks like.”
Of particular concern to the group is the impact of these threats on Lake County residents: “Many could lose not only their democratic rights, but access to programs they depend on — Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and SNAP.”
Attendees at the June 14 rally are encouraged to check the Indivisible Lake County website and to bring water, wear weather-appropriate clothing, bring handmade signs or flags, and, most importantly, to bring their voices.