This is the time of year when the California Legislature puts bills through their initial policy committee hearings, and CCA is actively supporting a number of measures to reduce the emissions that cause air pollution and global warming. Since 80% of California’s air pollution, and 50% of its greenhouse pollution, come from transportation, most of our efforts are devoted to cleaning up that sector.
- AB 7 (Friedman) aims to reform the selection process for transportation projects so that funding prioritizes safety, accessibility, reconnecting communities, and reducing environmental impacts. The bill is still a work in progress and is being discussed by a broad set of interested parties, but represents an opportunity for the state to fund projects that move people and goods in ways that improve our health and safety rather than endangering us. Previous attempts by Assemblymember Friedman to realign transportation priorities have been vetoed by Governor Newsom, demonstrating the power that entrenched special interests have to block progress.
- AB 241 (Reyes) and SB 84 (Gonzalez), would renew funding – from small fees on vehicles and vessels — for programs that support cleaner cars, trucks, and buses. The bills would set an important new standard of requiring that at least half of the Energy Commission’s Clean Transportation Program dollars directly benefit residents of disadvantaged and low-income communities, something CCA has been advocating for years. The legislation also would continue funding for replacing dirty old cars and trucks with cleaner substitutes.
- AB 1267 (Ting) would steer incentives for zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) to those Californians who are burning the most gasoline, especially those with low and moderate incomes. According to Coltura, the top ten percent of California drivers in terms of gasoline consumption burn 28% of the state’s gasoline, so putting those drivers into ZEVs would maximize the effectiveness of state incentives.
- AB 1525 (Bonta), building on the success of laws sponsored by CCA, would direct at least 60% of the state’s transportation funding to projects that provide direct, meaningful, and assured benefits to disadvantaged and low-income communities. This bill, sponsored by the Greenlining Institute, would bring transportation justice to communities that too often have been left out of clean, safe, affordable, and convenient mobility.
We are also supporting many other worthy bills and opposing some that would take us in the wrong direction.