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SB 375 (Steinberg) FACT SHEET

Planning and Global Warming

AUGUST 2007

PURPOSE OF THE BILL

Reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, promote greater housing choice and shorter commutes, reduce fossil fuel consumption and conserve more farmlands and habitat.

BACKGROUND

California’s Climate Action Plan cites smart land use and intelligent transportation as critical source of global warming emissions reductions (Table ES-3). Yet the agencies charged with the implementation of AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act, have not yet identified land use strategies to achieve California’s emission reduction goals. SB 375 offers a path forward by providing incentives for more compact development, reduced driving, greater housing choices and conservation of farmland and habitat.

WHAT THIS BILL WOULD DO

Require Regional Transportation Plans to include a sustainable communities strategy that would:
- Designate housing sites for all the population growth, including all economic segments of the population, of a region within the region.
- Achieve target greenhouse gas emission reductions established by CARB to implement AB 32.
- Identify farmland and habitat and exclude it from development areas except, under defined circumstances, to promote orderly development.
- Under existing law, funding for transportation projects must be consistent with the Regional Transportation Plans.
- Projects in Prop 1B or the STIP prior to 2012 would be exempt.
Require improved transportation modeling that will more accurately account for the impacts of various land use choices on transportation.
Recalibrate CEQA for local governments that conform land use plans to a sustainable communities strategy.
- Sustainable Communities Projects. Projects that satisfy a checklist of environmental and land use criteria will not need any further CEQA compliance.
- Housing. Housing projects that fully mitigate their environmental impacts will be subject to less litigation.
- Focused Review. Projects that cannot satisfy the checklist would have to review only their project specific impacts. When fully implemented, SB 375 will help local governments avoid litigation related CEQA compliance.
- Traffic. Local governments could set traffic mitigation policies in advance. Developers who comply will not be required to do additional traffic mitigation under CEQA.

SUPPORT

Environmental Groups:

California League of Conservation Voters
Natural Resources Defense Council
American Farmland Trust
California Council of Land Trusts
Coalition for Clean Air
Defenders of Wildlife
Environment California
Planning & Conservation League
Sierra Club California
Transportation and Land Use Coalition (TALC)
Trust for Public Land

Businesses:

Alpine Meadows Ski Resort
Congress for the New Urbanism
Environmental Entrepreneurs
Homewood Mountain Resort
New Voice of Business
Silicon Valley Leadership Group

Labor:

California State Pipe Trades Council
CA State Building & Construction Trades Council
State Association of Electrical Workers
Western State Council of Sheet Metal Workers

Government:

Metropolitan Transportation Commission
Sacramento Council of Governments (in concept)

Health Groups:

American Lung Association of California
California Nurses Association

Civic Groups:

League of Women Voters

KEY CONTACTS

Tom Adams: 650-348-0870 or
California League of Conservation Voters

Ann Notthoff: 415-875-6100 or
Natural Resources Defense Council