Existing law establishes the Strategic Growth Council in state government. Existing law requires the council to develop and administer the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases through projects that implement land use, housing, transportation, and agricultural land preservation practices to support infill and compact development and that support related and coordinated public policy objectives, as specified.
Existing law requires certain transportation planning agencies to prepare and adopt regional transportation plans directed at achieving a coordinated and balanced regional transportation system. Existing law requires each regional transportation plan to also
include a sustainable communities strategy prepared by each metropolitan planning organization. Existing law requires the
council, by January 31, 2022, to submit a report to the relevant policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature that includes, among other things, an overview of those sustainable communities strategies, an assessment of how implementation of those sustainable communities strategies will influence the configuration of the statewide integrated multimodal transportation system, and a review of the potential impacts and opportunities for coordination of specified funding programs, including the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program.
This bill would require the council, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board, the Department of Housing and Community Development, and the Transportation Agency, to convene a task force to review the roles and responsibilities of metropolitan planning organizations and to define “sustainable community.”
Existing law requires each regional transportation planning agency or county transportation commission to biennially adopt and submit to the California Transportation Commission and the Department of Transportation a 5-year regional transportation improvement program that includes, among other things, regional transportation improvement projects and programs proposed to be funded, in whole or in part, in the state transportation improvement program.
This bill would require that those projects and programs included in each regional transportation improvement program also be consistent with the most recently prepared sustainable communities strategy of the regional transportation planning agency or county transportation commission and the state’s climate goals, as defined. The bill would require each regional transportation planning agency or county transportation commission to rank all transportation projects and prioritize
projects based on adherence to its most recently adopted sustainable communities strategy and the state’s climate goals, prioritize funding and implementing projects in the order of prioritization, and submit the prioritized list to the state board and the California Transportation Commission. The bill would require the state board, in consultation with the commission, to determine whether those projects and programs are consistent with the sustainable communities strategy and the state’s climate goals, and would prohibit a regional transportation planning agency or county transportation commission from funding inconsistent projects or programs, as specified.
The bill would also require each regional transportation planning agency or county transportation commission to submit a report on local transportation tax measures to the California Transportation Commission on or before March 30, 2023, as provided. The bill would require the commission, in consultation with
the state board, to propose recommendations on alignment of local tax measures with the state’s climate goals. The bill would require, to the extent permitted by the local tax measures, projects funded by local tax measures to be included in regional transportation plans and to adhere to the most recently adopted sustainable community communities strategy of the applicable regional transportation agency or county transportation commission and the state’s climate goals.
By imposing additional requirements on local government, including regional transportation planning agencies and county transportation commissions, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to
reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.