BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 881|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 881
Author: Huffman (D), et al
Amended: 6/25/09 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 6-4, 7/7/09
AYES: Lowenthal, DeSaulnier, Kehoe, Pavley, Simitian, Wolk
NOES: Huff, Ashburn, Harman, Hollingsworth
NO VOTE RECORDED: Oropeza
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 50-29, 5/28/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Sonoma County Climate Protection Authority
SOURCE : County of Sonoma
Sonoma County Transportation Agency
DIGEST : This bill creates the Sonoma County Regional
Climate Protection Agency to assist local agencies in
Sonoma County to meet greenhouse gas reduction goals.
ANALYSIS : In 2006, the Legislature enacted AB 32
(Nu?ez), Chapter 488, the Global Warming Act of 2006 (GWA),
which requires the California Air Resources Board (ARB) to
establish a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit such
that by 2020 California reduces its greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions to the level they were in 1990.
CONTINUED
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AB 32 requires ARB to adopt a Scoping Plan that identifies
the strategies that will be employed to ensure that
California will meet the 2020 GHG goal. In December 2008,
ARB adopted the Scoping Plan. It recognizes the critical
role local governments will play in the implementation of
AB 32 by specifically stating: "Local governments are
essential partners in achieving California's goals to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They have broad influence
and, in some cases, exclusive authority over activities
that contribute to significant direct and indirect GHG
emissions through their planning and permitting processes,
local ordinances, outreach and education efforts, and
municipal operations. Many of the proposed measures to
reduce GHG emissions rely on local government actions."
SB 375 (Steinberg), Chapter 728, Statutes of 2008, requires
the ARB to provide each region with GHG emission reduction
targets for the automobile and light truck sector; requires
a regional transportation plan to include a Sustainable
Communities Strategy designed to achieve the targets for
GHG emission reduction; requires cities and counties, in
general, to revise their housing elements every eight years
in conjunction with the regional transportation plan and
complete any necessary rezonings within a specific time
period; and relaxes California Environmental Quality Act
requirements for housing developments that are consistent
with a Sustainable Communities Strategy.
This bill:
1. Creates the Sonoma County Regional Climate Protection
Authority (authority).
2. Designates the authority as a public instrumentality
governed by the same board as that governing the Sonoma
County Transportation Authority (SCTA), but states that
the authority is a separate entity from SCTA.
3. Authorizes the authority, in cooperation with local
agencies that choose to participate, to perform
coordination and implementation activities within the
boundaries of Sonoma County to assist those
participating agencies in meeting their GHG emission
reduction goals.
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4. Defines local agency to mean "a county, city, whether
general law or chartered, city and county, town, school
district, municipal corporation, district, political
subdivision, or any board, commission, or agency
thereof, other local public agency."
5. States that the authority may coordinate and implement
activities that shall include, but not be limited to,
the following: reduction of energy consumption;
coordination and implementation of energy efficiency
projects; increasing efficiency of water use; utilizing
carbon sequestration opportunities; administration of
grants to local entities; development of alternative
transportation options; and, measuring and quantifying
ongoing greenhouse gas reductions.
6. Prohibits anything in this bill from superseding or
interfering with activities, plans, or actions of other
local agencies.
7. Authorizes the authority to apply for funds available to
carry out its functions, to receive grants, and to hold
funds available in a separate account.
8. Prohibits transportation funds from being used for
purposes of this measure other than those activities of
the authority related to transportation.
9. Prohibits funding from the Traffic Relief Act for Sonoma
County (Measure M) from being used for purposes of this
measure.
10.Requires the authority to do all of the following:
A. Adopt rules for proceedings; a budget, and an
administrative code.
B. Act by motion, resolution, or ordinance.
C. Conduct meetings under the Ralph M. Brown Act.
D. Conduct a financial audit annually.
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11.Requires that members of the authority be compensated
and reimbursed for necessary and reasonable expenses
incurred in connection with performing official duties.
12.States that the authority may sue and be sued.
13.Sunsets the authority on December 1, 2015, unless
otherwise extended.
Background
ARB encourages local governments to adopt a GHG reduction
goal for emissions from municipal operations and move
toward establishing similar goals for community emissions
that parallel the state commitment to reduce GHG emissions
to 1990 levels by 2020. Sonoma County, SCTA, the Sonoma
County Water Agency (SCWA), and all nine cities in Sonoma
have adopted a more aggressive goal to reduce GHG emissions
by 25 percent below the 1990 level by 2015.
ARB's Scoping Plan encourages local governments "to partner
with special districts, such as school districts,
transportation planning agencies and waste and water
utilities that provide services within their
jurisdictions." The author cites a Public Policy Institute
of California report that found the implementation barriers
to local GHG reduction efforts is due to the difficulty of
coordinating between local agencies. By creating the
authority, the bill creates a forum to coordinate the
efforts among local public agencies to meet Sonoma County's
ambitious GHG goal.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 7/23/09)
Sonoma County Transportation Agency (co-source)
County of Sonoma (co-source)
American Council of Engineering Companies of CA
Cities of Cloverdale, Cotati, Healdsburg, Rohnert Park,
Santa Rosa,
Sebastopol, and Sonoma
Climate Protection Campaign
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Solar Sonoma County
Sonoma County Alliance
Sonoma County Water Agency
Town of Windsor
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author's office believes that
in order to help local governments be more successful in
reducing emissions to meet the state's goal and local
goals, we need to give local governments a better ability
to coordinate at the local level to implement emissions
reductions strategies. This bill creates a new entity in
the County, the Sonoma County Regional Climate Protection
Authority, to be in effect until 2015, to organize efforts
with local public agencies and private entities in the
County to coordinate GHG reduction strategies, in order to
assist the state in meeting its 2020 goal as well as help
the County meet its GHG reduction goal. The Agency will be
a public instrumentality governed by the same board as that
governing the Sonoma County Transportation Authority.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Ammiano, Arambula, Beall, Block, Blumenfield,
Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter,
Chesbro, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, Eng, Feuer,
Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani, Hall, Hayashi,
Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jones, Krekorian, Lieu,
Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Monning, Nava, John A.
Perez, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas,
Saldana, Skinner, Solorio, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres,
Torrico, Yamada, Bass
NOES: Adams, Anderson, Bill Berryhill, Tom Berryhill,
Blakeslee, Conway, Cook, DeVore, Duvall, Emmerson,
Fletcher, Fuller, Gaines, Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman,
Harkey, Jeffries, Knight, Logue, Miller, Nestande,
Niello, Nielsen, Silva, Smyth, Audra Strickland, Tran,
Villines
NO VOTE RECORDED: Evans
JJA:do 7/23/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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