BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 441
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 441 (Monning)
As Amended January 23, 2012
Majority vote
LOCAL GOVERNMENT 6-3 APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
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|Ayes:|Alejo, Bradford, Campos, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Blumenfield, |
| |Davis, Gordon, Hueso | |Bradford, Charles |
| | | |Calderon, Campos, |
| | | |Chesbro, Gatto, Hall, |
| | | |Hill, Ammiano, Mitchell, |
| | | |Solorio |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Smyth, Knight, Norby |Nays:|Harkey, Donnelly, |
| | | |Nielsen, Norby, Wagner |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires the California Transportation Commission (CTC) to
include voluntary health issues in guidelines promulgated by CTC for
the preparation of regional transportation plans. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Requires CTC, in consultation with appropriate state agencies and
departments, to include, at the next revision, voluntary health
and health equity factors, strategies, goals, and objectives in
the regional transportation plan (RTP) guidelines.
2)Makes findings and declarations regarding the need to have
voluntary health guidelines in all policies.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires each planning agency to prepare and the legislative body
of each county and city adopt a comprehensive, long-term general
plan for the physical development of the county or city, and of
any land outside its boundaries which in the planning agency's
judgment bears relation to its planning.
2)Authorizes CTC, in cooperation with the regional transportation
planning agencies,
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to prescribe study areas for analysis and evaluation by such
agencies and guidelines for
the preparation of the RTPs.
3)Requires CTC, in consultation with the California Department of
Transportation (Caltrans) and the State Air Resources Board, to
maintain guidelines for travel demand models used in the development
of RTPs by
federally-designated metropolitan planning organizations.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee,
this bill will result in minor costs that can be absorbed by
Caltrans and CTC.
COMMENTS : 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.
The U.S. Surgeon General's Vision for a Healthy and Fit Nation 2010
states that two-thirds of adults and nearly one in three children
are overweight or obese, and the prevalence of obesity in the U.S.
more than doubled (from 15% to 34%) among adults and more than
tripled (from 5% to 17%) among children and adolescents from 1980 to
2008. The U.S. Surgeon General goes on to say that "neighborhoods
and communities should become actively involved in creating
healthier environments. Communities should consider the geographic
availability of their supermarkets, improving residents' access to
outdoor recreational facilities, limiting advertisements of less
healthy foods and beverages, building and enhancing infrastructures
to support more walking and bicycling, and improving the safety of
neighborhoods to facilitate outdoor physical activity."
California has taken some steps to include health in planning. One
of the most notable is requiring a reduction in vehicle miles
traveled and greenhouse gas emissions through coordinating regional
transportation and land use plans ÝSB 375 (Steinberg), Chapter 728,
Statutes of 2008]. Moreover, the Strategic Growth Council (SGC) has
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been working to implement Governor Schwarzenegger's Executive Order
(EO-04-10) which created a Health in All Policies (HiAP) task force.
The HiAP task force was created to collaborate with existing SGC
working groups to identify priority programs, policies, and
strategies to improve the health of Californians while advancing the
SGC's goals of improving air and water quality, protecting natural
resources and agricultural lands, increasing the availability of
affordable housing, improving infrastructure systems, promoting
public health, planning sustainable communities, and meeting the
state's climate change goals. In its report the HiAP task force
focused on two strategic directions: 1) building healthy and safe
communities with opportunities for active transportation; safe,
healthy, affordable housing; places to be active, including parks,
green space, and healthy tree canopy; the ability to be active
without fear of violence or crime; and, access to healthy,
affordable foods; and, 2) finding opportunities to add a health lens
in public policy and program development and increase collaboration
across agencies and with communities. One of the recommendations to
come out of the task force was to promote health equity in planning,
the objective of this bill. This bill incorporates voluntary health
criteria into CTC's RTP Guidelines.
Support arguments: According to the sponsors, California Pan-Ethnic
Health Network, this bill promotes creating communities that are
designed to prevent health conditions before they occur. Supporters
believe that this bill enables the state to provide a flexible
blueprint on integrating health criteria into transportation
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.
Opposition arguments: Opposition could argue that since the
guidelines in this bill are optional for regional planning agencies
to use, there really is no need for a bill since locals already have
the authority to include health in planning. In fact, opposition
could say that there are already many communities across the state
and even the country that are already including health equity in
planning and that other communities that want to do the same can
just follow those best practices without adding additional costs to
the state to create the guidelines.
Analysis Prepared by : Katie Kolitsos / L. GOV. / (916) 319-3958
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