BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE
Senator Dave Cox, Chair
BILL NO: SB 1445 HEARING: 4/7/10
AUTHOR: DeSaulnier FISCAL: Yes
VERSION: 3/24/10 CONSULTANT: Detwiler
REGIONAL AND STATE PLANNING
Background and Existing Law
The Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply, Flood
Control, River and Coastal Protection Bond Act of 2006
(Proposition 84) authorized $5.4 billion in state bonds.
One purpose is "Revitalizing our communities and making
them more sustainable and livable by investing in sound
land use planning, local parks and urban greening." $580
million is available for those purposes, with $90 million
specifically set aside for "planning grants and
incentives."
The Strategic Growth Council awards and manages these
grants (SB 732, Steinberg, 2008). The six-member Council
consists of the:
Director of the Governor's Office of Planning and
Research (OPR).
Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency.
Secretary of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Secretary of the Business, Transportation and
Housing Agency.
Secretary of the California Health and Human
Services Agency.
A public member, appointed by the Governor.
The Strategic Growth Council coordinates the state's
activities and programs to improve air and water quality,
improve natural resources protection, increase the
availability of affordable housing, improve transportation,
meet the goals of the California Global Warming Solutions
Act ("AB 32"), encourage sustainable land use planning, and
revitalize community centers. The Council must comment on
the state's five-year infrastructure plan and OPR's State
Environmental Goals and Policies Report.
OPR is the state's comprehensive planning agency,
responsible for helping local and regional officials with
land use planning. Located within the Office of the
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Governor, OPR coordinates state agencies' planning
activities. Every four years, OPR must prepare a State
Environmental Goals and Policies Report, a 20- to 30-year
look ahead at state growth and development. The State
Environmental Goals and Policy Report must be consistent
with the state's planning priorities to:
Promote infill development and equity.
Protect environmental and agricultural resources.
Encourage efficient development patterns (AB 857,
Wiggins, 2002).
The Planning Advisory and Assistance Council (PAAC) is
OPR's advisory panel, which is supposed to meet at least
twice a year to offer advice and help shape the State
Environmental Goals and Policies Report. OPR's Director
appoints the PAAC members:
Three city representatives, nominated by the League
of California Cities.
Three county representatives, nominated by the
California State Association of Counties.
One representative from each of the regional
planning districts designated by OPR; at least two
from metropolitan area planning organizations and at
least one from a nonmetropolitan planning
organization.
One representative of Indian tribes with
reservations in California.
Cities and counties have formed joint powers agencies
called councils of governments (COGs) to conduct areawide
studies and implement various regional planning
requirements, particularly regional housing needs
assessments and regional transportation plans. Many COGs
are federally recognized metropolitan planning
organizations (MPOs), although there are institutional
permutations. For example, in the nine-county San
Francisco Bay region, the Association of Bay Area
Governments (ABAG) is the COG that prepares the regional
housing needs assessment, but the Metropolitan
Transportation Commission (MTC) is the region's MPO.
There is increasing legislative and public support for
linking land use decisions to transportation policy to help
reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from vehicles. The
California Air Resources Board must assign each MPO a GHG
emissions reduction target, and then each MPO must prepare
SB 1445 -- 3/24/10 -- Page 3
a "sustainable communities strategy" as a component of its
regional transportation plan (SB 375, Steinberg, 2008).
This strategy is a blueprint for communities to achieve the
region's GHG emissions reduction target. If the
sustainable communities strategy does not achieve the
reduction target, the MPO must prepare an alternative
planning strategy.
COGs that are concerned about linking housing,
transportation, and other regional concerns want to connect
these policy discussions to practical programs that will
help regional and local officials create sustainable
communities.
Proposed Law
Senate Bill 1445 creates a revenue stream for regional
planning agencies and the Planning Advisory and Assistance
Council (PAAC) [See 3 and 5 of the bill.] SB 1445
expands the PAAC's membership and duties. [2] The bill
affects the duties of the Strategic Growth Council. [4]
There are also legislative findings and declarations. [1]
I. Vehicle Registration Fee . SB 1445 increases the state
vehicle registration fee by $1, starting July 1, 2011.
The bill allows the State Department of Motor Vehicles
(DMV) to deduct 1% (2% in the first year) of the resulting
revenues for its costs. The Department must send another
1% to the Planning Advisory and Assistance Council (PAAC)
to pay for its duties. The DMV must distribute the rest of
these new revenues to:
Metropolitan planning organizations.
Councils of governments outside of metropolitan
planning organizations.
Transportation planning agencies outside of either
metropolitan planning organizations or councils of
governments.
The DMV's distribution must be based on the amount of the
fees collected from registered motor vehicles in these
jurisdictions.
II. Regional Programs . SB 1445 spells out how regional
agencies spend these revenues.
SB 1445 -- 3/24/10 -- Page 4
Metropolitan planning organizations, councils of
governments, and county transportation commissions must
spend the revenues received from the vehicle registration
fees to develop and implement a:
Sustainable communities strategy.
Regional blueprint plan (meaning both a sustainable
communities strategy and an alternative planning
strategy).
Rural transportation plan element, consistent with
the State Department of Transportation's regional
blueprint guidelines.
When a metropolitan planning organization and a council of
governments jointly prepare a sustainable communities
strategy, they must share these revenues.
After the Southern California Association of Governments
(SCAG) spends these revenues to prepare its regional
sustainable communities strategy, SCAG must distribute the
rest of its revenues to a county transportation commission
or a subregional council of governments that will prepare a
subregional sustainable communities strategy. SCAG must
distribute the remaining revenues to the county
transportation commissions and subregional councils of
governments in proportion to the percentage of total
regional revenues attributable to each commission or
council's jurisdiction.
SB 1445 allows a metropolitan planning organization, a
council of governments, or a county transportation
commission and a subregional council of governments to
share their revenues with the local air quality management
district. The air quality management district must use
these revenues to help local and regional governments
reduce greenhouse gas emissions by spending the money on
efforts that include:
Help to develop a subregional sustainable
communities strategy.
Help to develop local greenhouse gas emission
inventories.
Help to develop general plan strategies to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions.
Develop and help with the California Environmental
Quality Act guidelines and analyses of greenhouse gas
emissions.
Consult and develop local climate action plans.
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Consult on projects that reduce greenhouse gas
emissions from transportation and land use decisions.
III. Planning Advisory and Assistance Council's Duties .
SB 1445 assigns the PAAC five new duties:
Work with the Strategic Growth Council, regional
agencies, cities, and counties to facilitate the
implementation of regional blueprint projects.
Facilitate coordination between regional blueprint
plans and state growth and infrastructure funding
plans by developing proposed recommendations to the:
o Strategic Growth Council.
o State Department of General Services.
o State Allocation Board.
o State Department of Housing and Community
Development.
o California Transportation Commission.
o California Housing and Finance Agency.
o Other state agencies that affect land
use, housing, or transportation
Receive reports, including the state's five-year
infrastructure plan.
Report to the Legislature on how state agencies
implement the state's planning priorities.
Report to the Legislature on regional performance
measures that evaluate each region based on the PAAC's
criteria for improving the regions' employment,
environmental protection, education, housing,
mobility, and other criteria.
IV. Planning Advisory and Assistance Council's Members .
SB 1445 changes the PAAC's membership so that it consists
of:
Three city representatives, nominated by the League
of California Cities.
Three county representatives, nominated by the
California State Association of Counties.
Seven representatives of regional planning
organizations:
o One from the Southern California
Association of Governments.
o One who is a member of the governing
bodies of both the Metropolitan Transportation
Commission and the Association of Bay Area
Governments.
o One from the San Diego Association of
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Governments.
o One from the Sacramento Area Council of
Governments.
o One from the San Joaquin Valley Regional
Policy Council.
o One from the other metropolitan planning
organizations or councils of governments,
nominated by the California Association of
Councils of Governments.
o One from a regional transportation
planning agency that is neither a metropolitan
planning organization nor a council of
governments, nominated by the California
Association of Councils of Governments.
One member of the State Air Resources Board.
One member of the California Transportation
Commission.
One member of the State Energy Resource
Conservation and Development Commission.
One member appointed by the Assembly Speaker.
One member appointed by the Senate Rules Committee.
One representative of Indian tribes with
reservations in California. [2]
V. Strategic Growth Council . SB 1445 requires the
Strategic Growth Council to consult with and coordinate its
recommendations with the Planning Advisory and Assistance
Council within the Governor's Office of Planning and
Research.
Comments
1. Connect the dots . California's arrangement for
statewide functional planning, regional planning
coordination, and local comprehensive planning is haphazard
and certainly not the product of conscious design. With
more than 40 statewide plans, scores of regional and
subregional entities, and 538 local general plans, the
result is a swirling mass of institutions and ad hoc
arrangements. For more than 70 years, state law has
required cities and counties to adopt and follow
comprehensive general plans that balance competing values
within each community. At the regional level, COGs, MPOs,
AQMDs, RWQCBs, LAFCOs, and state-created regional
commissions (BCDC, TRPA, Coastal Commission, DPC, DSC)
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struggle to make sense out of topics that are
larger-than-local. Within state government, the
Legislature conceived of OPR as the hub of a figurative
wagon wheel, with the state departments' functional plans
as the spokes, and the State Environmental Goals and
Policies Report at the rim, holding the parts together.
When these institutions don't produce results, legislators
create new entities such as SB 375's Strategic Growth
Council. SB 1445 dives into this institutional alphabet
soup and connects the new Strategic Growth Council to OPR's
PAAC. The bill adds three state agencies and two
legislative appointments to the PAAC, while giving seats to
specific COGs and MPOs. SB 1445 is a brave attempt to make
sense out of long-range planning efforts that almost defy
description.
2. Plates pay for plans . Successful long-range planning
needs a dedicated revenue stream. Unlike other states,
California invests no State General Funds to support local
comprehensive planning. Cities and counties must rely on
their own budgets, augmented by local fees. COGs rely on
mixes of federal funds and members' dues. Although
Proposition 84 promised $90 million in local and regional
planning support, that's hardly enough to plan properly for
a state that will have 50 million residents shortly after
2030. SB 1445 raises about $30 million a year to fund the
preparation of sustainable communities strategies by COGs
and MPOs, but cities and counties must still revise their
general plans and make land use decisions. The Committee
may wish to consider redirecting 2/3 of the new revenues to
local planning after the regional organizations finish
their initial SB 375 obligations.
3. Failed attempts . The new Strategic Growth Council and
OPR's PAAC are merely the current incarnations of the state
government's earlier failed attempts to supervise
long-range planning. The first State Planning Commission
appeared in 1934, followed by a separate State Planning
Board in the Department of Finance (1935), combined into
the State Reconstruction and Re-Employment Commission
(1943), and abolished in 1947. A new State Office of
Planning within the Department of Finance had its own
Planning Advisory Committee (1959), followed by a
Coordinating Council on Urban Policy (1963), an
Intergovernmental Council on Urban Growth (1965), the
California Council on Intergovernmental Relations (1969),
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and the re-named Planning Advisory and Assistance Council
and the Governor's Office of Planning and Research (1970).
Although it hasn't met for years, the PAAC was supposed to
advise OPR. SB 1445 ignores OPR and instead converts the
PAAC from an advisory body into a state-local planning
council with guaranteed revenues. The Committee may wish
to consider assigning these new duties and revenues to OPR
instead of to the PAAC.
4. Distributing dollars . The DMV gets 1% and the PAAC
gets another 1% of the $30 million generated by SB 1445,
while the rest of the new revenues go to the MPOs and COGs
to write their sustainable communities strategies. Because
the bill's distribution formula relies on where cars and
trucks are registered, most of the money goes to SCAG for
its six-county region (45%) and to ABAG and MTC for their
nine-county region (19%). But the counties in the
Sacramento Valley, the San Joaquin Valley, and the Mother
Lode may have greater needs for better planning. Instead
of distributing dollars based on a fixed formula, the
Committee may wish to consider requiring OPR to allocate
the state funds based on applications from COGs, MPOs,
county transportation commissions, and other planning
agencies.
5. No little plans ! One of America's first city planners,
Daniel Burnham, famously challenged his colleagues: Make
no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood
and probably will not themselves be realized. SB 1445
makes no plans at all, merely facilitating coordination,
requiring more consultation, inserting state officials on
the PAAC, and commissioning more reports to the
Legislature. For example, the PAAC must grade the regions
on their residents' education and employment --- topics
that fall far outside the PAAC members' purview. Why
should a member of the Air Resources Board judge school
performance in the San Joaquin Valley? While sweeping away
the current tangled thicket of planning duties and starting
over is politically impractical, the Committee may wish to
consider whether SB 1445 further entangles state, regional,
and local officials without a clear outcome. What's the
result that legislators want?
6. Now you see it. Now you don't ? In June 2009, Governor
Schwarzenegger called OPR "a total waste," adding that "The
Office of Planning and Research ought to be about planning
SB 1445 -- 3/24/10 -- Page 9
and research to come up with great policy answers, which
this office doesn't do." The Governor's 2010-11 Budget
calls for OPR's elimination, reassigning some of its
functions to other state entities. However, the
Administration has yet to say what should become of OPR's
land use and technical assistance duties. SB 1445 expands
the PAAC's duties, but by 2011 there may not be an OPR for
the PAAC to advise.
7. Technical amendments . To avoid confusion, the
Committee should adopt two technical amendments. First, on
page 4, line 27, insert "the" after "of" as recommended by
the Senate Engrossing and Enrolling staff. Second, on page
7, lines 27 to 30, substitute language that allocates the
fee revenues "based on the amount of fees collected from
motor vehicles registered within each jurisdiction" to
conform to the formula on page 10, lines 28 and 29.
8. Legislative history . SB 1455 is similar to SB 406
(DeSaulnier, 2009) which the Senate Local Government
Committee passed by the vote of 3-2. Governor
Schwarzenegger vetoed last year's bill because it allowed
MPOs, COGs, and county transportation commissions to impose
motor vehicle fees without local voter approval. This
year's bill relies on a statewide fee, imposed directly by
the Legislature.
9. Double referral . Because SB 1445 increases the state's
vehicle registration fee, the Senate Rules Committee has
ordered that the bill go to the Senate Transportation and
Housing Committee for review, after it leaves the Senate
Local Government Committee.
Support and Opposition (4/1/10)
Support : California Association of Councils of
Governments, American Planning Association-California
Chapter, Association of Bay Area Governments.
Opposition : Unknown.