BILL ANALYSIS
SB 375
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator S. Joseph Simitian, Chairman
2007-2008 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 375
AUTHOR: Steinberg
AMENDED: April 17, 2007
FISCAL: Yes HEARING DATE: April 23, 2007
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Randy Pestor
SUBJECT : TRANSPORTATION, LAND USE, AND CEQA
SUMMARY :
Existing law :
1) Establishes the California Transportation Commission (CTC)
and sets various duties and procedures for the CTC
(Government Code 14500 et seq.).
2) Establishes the Department of Transportation (Caltrans),
with various responsibilities.
3) Designates regional transportation planning agencies
(Government Code 29532.1) and provides for formation of a
local transportation planning commission (Government Code
29532).
4) Under Long Range Transportation Planning Law (Government
Code 65070 et seq.), requires the California
Transportation Plan to include policy, strategies, and
recommendations elements; requires Caltrans to prepare a
federal transportation improvement program and annually
submit the program to the U.S. Secretary of Transportation.
5) Under Transportation Planning and Programming Law
(Government Code 65080 et seq.):
a) Requires RTPAs to prepare and adopt a regional
transportation plan that contains a policy element,
action element, and financial element.
b) Authorizes RTPAs to designate special corridors,
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requires preparation of a five-year regional
transportation improvement program (RTIP); authorizes
Caltrans to prepare a project studies report for
capacity-increasing highway projects, and requires
Caltrans to prepare guidelines for project studies by
other entities.
6) Under Congestion Management Law (Government Code 65088 et
seq.), authorizes a city or county to designate an infill
opportunity zone that must be consistent with any general
plan and specific plan.
7) Under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)
(Public Resources Code 21000 et seq.), requires lead
agencies with the principal responsibility for carrying out
or approving a proposed discretionary project to prepare a
negative declaration, mitigated declaration, or
environmental impact report (EIR) for this action, unless
the project is exempt from CEQA (CEQA includes various
statutory exemptions, as well as categorical exemptions in
the CEQA guidelines).
This bill :
1) Requires the CTC to adopt guidelines for disbursement of
state transportation funding related to travel demand
models used in development or regional transportation plans
by RTPAs, and sets procedures for preparing the guidelines.
The guidelines must require that travel demand models be
capable of evaluating certain policy choices, such as
induced travel and induced land development, split modes,
proximity of residential uses to employment centers, and
parking charges. The guidelines must apply to a RTPA for a
region with a population of 800,000 or more, and is
permissive for RTPAs with a lower population.
2) Requires Caltrans, under Integrated Transportation and Land
Use Planning Law (Government Code 65089.60 et seq.), to
develop standards for disseminating the methodology,
results, and key assumptions of travel demand models that
is useable and understandable to the public, and meet at
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least annually with the CTC and certain agencies to
determine whether the models need additional revisions due
to new research or new requirements in state or federal
law.
3) Requires a RTPA to demonstrate in its regional
transportation plan the extent to which its regional travel
demand models assist other public agencies to evaluate
large development projects, including impacts of density
and mixed land uses on travel. The RTPA must report to the
CTC on how the regional travel demand model supports
certain planning.
4) Under Long Range Transportation Planning Law, requires
system concepts and strategies in the California
Transportation Plan strategies element, and projects and
improvements in the federal transportation improvement
program, to be consistent with preferred growth scenarios
(PGSs) (see #3 below).
5) Under Transportation Planning and Programming Law:
a) Requires the RTIP to include a PGS that meets certain
requirements (e.g., identifies areas to house
population, identifies significant resource land and
farmland, complies with the federal Clean Air Act).
b) Requires special corridors to be consistent with the
PGS, and requires projects in the RTIP and project
studies report to be consistent with the PGS.
c) Defines "significant resource lands," "significant
farmland," and "vehicle miles traveled."
6) Under Congestion Management Law, requires an infill
opportunity zone to also be consistent with any PGS.
7) Under CEQA, creates the Implementation of the Preferred
Growth Scenario Law that:
a) Applies within a local jurisdiction that has amended
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its general plan so that the land use, circulation,
housing, and open space elements are consistent with the
PGS, and meet certain requirements.
b) Authorizes an environmental document to only examine
the significant or potentially significant project
specific impacts of a project located in an eligible
jurisdiction, if an EIR has been certified on the PGS
and on general plan amendments to conform to the PGS,
and the project meets certain requirements, such as
being an infill project within an urbanized area.
c) Authorizes an eligible jurisdiction to adopt a
neighborhood plan if the plan meets certain
requirements, such as access to a major transit stop and
mitigates displacement of low-income and very low-income
persons, and uses a planning process that complies with
certain requirements.
d) Provides that if a legislative body of an eligible
local jurisdiction finds that a project meets certain
requirements, then the project is declared to be a
sustainable communities' project and no additional
review is required.
e) Authorizes an eligible local legislative body within
an urbanized area to adopt traffic mitigation policies
that would apply to future residential projects. The
traffic mitigation policies must apply to residential
projects of at least 10 units per acre. A residential
project seeking a land use approval is not required to
comply with certain additional traffic mitigation
measures if the eligible jurisdiction has adopted
traffic mitigation policies in accordance with these
provisions. This does not restrict the authority of a
local jurisdiction to adopt feasible mitigation measures
with respect to project impacts on pedestrian or bicycle
safety.
8) Authorizes up to $20 million from Proposition 84 or 1C for
smart growth planning and incentive grants to RTPAs to
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develop transportation planning model improvements. Grants
must be awarded by the CTC, in consultation with Caltrans.
9) Provides related legislative intent.
COMMENTS :
1) Purpose of Bill . According to the author, "Current
planning models used for transportation decisions and air
quality planning must be improved to assess policy choices.
This includes encouraging more compact development
patterns, expanding transit service, creating walkable
communities, and providing incentives. It is also
necessary to achieve significant greenhouse gas reductions
from changed land use patterns and improved transportation
to meet AB 32 standards." The author notes that
"transportation and CEQA incentives are needed for greater
housing choices, shorter commutes, reduced climate
emissions, less air pollution, less fossil fuel
consumption, and greater conservation of farmlands and
habitat."
2) Seeking a comprehensive transportation, land use, and CEQA
link . SB 375 seeks to be a comprehensive approach to
linking transportation, land use, and CEQA by requiring
RTPAs to develop a PGS, tying funding of transportation
projects to the PGS, requiring transportation modeling to
account for land use impacts on transportation, and
revising CEQA for local governments that conform plans to
the PGS.
3) Support and concerns . Supporters note that SB 375 provides
a new vision for growth in California and "would establish
needed policies to implement AB 32 and to reduce greenhouse
gasses from light vehicles."
The Planning and Conservation League and Sierra Club
California believe that the bill will not work because the
processes involved are lengthy, results of such local
transportation planning efforts usually achieve the "lowest
common denominator" in regional land use, and a more
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standards-based approach is needed. These organizations
outline several concerns with SB 375, such as: a) the lack
of needed policy statements; b) the absence of any entity
to determine if general plans or amendments are consistent
with the PGS; c) possible weakening of current CEQA
exemptions; d) no land use regulatory impact of the PGS so
that it is only intended to be used as the basis of the
transportation planning process; e) nothing requires the
PGS to direct growth to existing areas; f) no specific
protection for resource lands or farmlands since they are
to be avoided only if "feasible"; g) no enforceable
standard to counteract the largely economic pressures that
lead to sprawl, and may actually be sprawl inducing; h) the
lack of clarity about how SB 375 will accomplish VMT
reduction; and i) the "opportunity cost" associated with
spending money and time on a very indirect approach.
PCL and Sierra Club California conclude that there is a need
to "find a way to redesign the state's land use policies
and transportation systems in a manner that will begin a
new, non-sprawl era of growth in California" and that
"articulating appropriate standards, to guide development
decisions, is a key step in that effort."
4) Consistency with AB 857 state planning priorities . AB 857
(Wiggins/Sher) Chapter 1016, Statutes of 2002, requires the
Governor to annually submit (with the Budget) a proposed
five-year infrastructure plan. The plan must cover a
five-fiscal-year period beginning with the fiscal year that
is the same as that covered by the Governor's Budget. The
plan must include criteria and priorities used to identify
and select the infrastructure proposed for funding and must
specify sources of funding, an evaluation of the impact of
new state debt on the state's existing overall debt
position, and recommend specific projects for funding. By
January 1, 2005, the infrastructure plan criteria must be
consistent with the state planning priorities enacted by AB
857. These state planning priorities are intended to
promote equity, strengthen the economy, protect the
environment, and promote public health and safety by: 1)
promoting infill development and equity, 2) protecting
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environmental and agricultural resources, and 3)
encouraging efficient development patterns. The state
environmental goals and policy report (EGPR) must also be
consistent with these priorities.
To ensure consistency between state priorities for the state's
infrastructure plan, EGPR, and PGSs, the SB 375 PGS
requirements must also reference these state planning
priorities.
5) Technical considerations . On page 24, line 12, strike
"no." It may also be appropriate for SB 375 to contain a
delayed operative date for certain funding conditions.
SOURCE : Senator Steinberg
SUPPORT : American Farmland Trust, American Lung
Association, California League of Conservation
Voters, Defenders of Wildlife, Environment
California, Natural Resources Defense Council
CONCERNS AND COMMENTS:
Planning and Conservation League, Sierra Club California
OPPOSITION : None on file