BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 441
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Date of Hearing: May 4, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 441 (Monning) - As Amended: March 24, 2011
Policy Committee: Local
GovernmentVote:6-3
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Governor's Office of Planning and
Research (OPR) to develop guidelines for local and regional
agencies to incorporate health issues into local or regional
general plans and requires the California Transportation
Commission (CTC) to include health issues in guidelines
promulgated by CTC for the preparation of regional
transportation plans. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the general plan guidelines to contain voluntary
guidelines for local and regional agencies to incorporate
health and health equity factors, strategies, goals, and
objectives.
2)Requires OPR to develop guidelines, with the appropriate state
agencies and departments, for cities and counties to include
health and health equity factors, goals, strategies, and
objectives in local general, specific, or regional plans.
3)States that health and health equity factors, goals,
strategies, and objectives can be included as an optional
element of a general plan or can be integrated into one of the
mandatory elements.
4)Requires OPR to report to the Governor, Legislature and any
relevant local and state agencies regarding the number of
general plans that include health equity criteria and to
provide best practices or models for incorporation into local
general, specific, or regional plans.
5)Requires CTC, in consultation with the appropriate state
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agencies and departments, to include, at the next revision,
health and health equity factors, strategies, goals and
objectives in the regional transportation plan (RTP)
guidelines.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Costs of approximately $500,000 to the Office of Planning and
Research to prepare the guidelines local governments could use
to update their general plans to reflect health
considerations.
2)Costs of approximately $250,000 for the CTC to revise their
guidelines to reflect health and health equity factors in
their RTP guidelines.
3)Unknown costs to local governments that could qualify as state
mandated local costs, depending on the requirements that local
governments may face in conforming to the guidelines.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose. According to the sponsors, California Pan-Ethnic
Health Network, AB 441 promotes creating communities that are
designed to prevent health conditions before they occur.
Supporters believe that AB 441 enables the state to provide a
flexible blueprint on integrating health criteria into
planning so that local governments can use these guidelines to
begin developing plans that increase access to healthier food,
safer parks, and transit option strategies that meet the needs
of all users.
2)Physical activity . According to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, physical inactivity contributes to
increased risk of many chronic diseases and conditions,
including obesity, hypertension, non-insulin-dependent
diabetes, colon cancer, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and
coronary heart disease. Despite the health benefits of
physical activity, 74% of U.S. adults do not get enough
physical activity to meet public health recommendations and
about one in four U.S. adults remains completely inactive
during their leisure time.
3)Mandated costs. Legislative Counsel did not key this bill as
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a state mandate. However, there may still be state mandated
costs to local government that would be reimbursable. If the
mandate depends on the decision of an administrative agency,
the bill will not be keyed by Legislative Counsel as a
mandate. Given that the general plan guidelines are
voluntary, there is not likely to be any mandated costs. The
updates of the RTPs are not voluntary, so there is a greater
likelihood of mandated costs that would be reimbursed.
Analysis Prepared by : Roger Dunstan / APPR. / (916) 319-2081