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Better Planning, Fewer Emissions

Reduce greenhouse gases by planning cities with more transit options

Last year California garnered worldwide attention by passing AB 32, The Global Warming Solutions Act, which requires the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020. How we reach this goal is one of the hot debates in Sacramento right now—and many bills have been introduced to help achieve the reductions called for in AB 32.

One comprehensive global warming bill, SB 375 (Steinberg), focuses on housing and transportation planning decisions to reduce fossil fuel consumption and conserve farmlands and habitat. This legislation is vitally important to the AB 32 goals because greenhouse gas emissions associated with land use are the single largest sector of emissions in California.

The California Environmental Protection Agency reports that better land use planning, which includes creating alternative choices for transportation, will achieve the largest emission reductions. SB 375 provides a path for better planning by providing incentives to locate housing developments closer to where people work and go to school, allowing them to reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) every year.

SB 375 would:

• Require the regional governing bodies in the state’s major metropolitan areas to adopt “preferred growth scenarios” that get people out of their cars. These scenarios would promote smart growth principles such as: development near public transit; projects that include a mix of residential and commercial use; and projects that include affordable housing to help reduce new housing developments in outlying areas with cheaper land.
• Create an incentive for the preferred growth scenario to be implemented by awarding transportation funding only for projects that are consistent with the preferred growth scenario.
• Require more sophisticated transportation planning that will more accurately account for the impacts of land use choices on transportation. Current plans don’t take into account the environmental benefits and VMT reductions from development projects that reduce sprawl.

It’s clear that California is growing. Even conservative models predict population growth to be 7 to 11 million new residents by the year 2025. To accommodate this growth we need more housing—but we must build it intelligently.

What You Can Do

SB 375 is supported by a broad coalition including the American Lung Association and the American Farmland Trust. SB 375 passed out of the Senate last year and is currently in the Assembly Appropriations Committee, where we anticipate a significant challenge. Please call or write your Assemblymember, urging him or her to vote yes for SB 375 in committee and on the Assembly floor.

Please call or fax your Assemblymember, urging him or her to support SB 375 in committee and on the Assembly floor.

See our sample letter and send one to your Assemblymember!

Your Assemblymember
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814

Phone: (916) 319-20_ _
Fax: (916) 319-21_ _
(fill in the last two digits with your Assembly district number)

To find out who your Assemblymember is, go directly to the Legislature's "Find Your Representatives" page and enter your address in the form in the bottom left corner of the page.

To find out whether your Assembly member sits on the Appropriations Committee, go to the State Assembly website.