BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 296
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 296 (Skinner)
As Amended May 27, 2011
Majority vote
TRANSPORTATION 8-5 NATURAL RESOURCES 6-3
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|Ayes:|Bonnie Lowenthal, |Ayes:|Chesbro, Brownley, |
| |Blumenfield, Bonilla, | |Dickinson, Huffman, |
| |Buchanan, Eng, Furutani, | |Monning, Skinner |
| |Portantino, Solorio | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Jeffries, Achadjian, |Nays:|Knight, Grove, Halderman |
| |Logue, Miller, Norby | | |
| | | | |
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APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
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|Ayes:|Fuentes, Blumenfield, | | |
| |Bradford, Charles | | |
| |Calderon, Campos, Davis, | | |
| |Gatto, Hall, Hill, Lara, | | |
| |Mitchell, Solorio | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Harkey, Donnelly, | | |
| |Nielsen, Norby, Wagner | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires the California Department of Transportation
(Caltrans) to develop and adopt a Cool Pavements Handbook that
details cool pavement protocols, standards, and best practices
for paving projects for the purpose of mitigating heat island
effect (HIE); requires Caltrans to conduct one or more cool
pavement pilot projects and report to the Legislature on or
before January 1, 2018. Specifically, this bill :
1)Makes legislative findings and declarations regarding HIE and
the mitigating effects of cool pavements.
2)Defines a variety of terms relative to HIE.
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3)Requires Caltrans to develop the Cool Pavements Handbook and
to carry out other requirements, in consultation with the
Department of General Services, the State Building Standards
Commission, State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB), State
Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission,
State Air Resources Board, State Water Quality Control Board,
and any other relevant state department or agencies.
4)Authorizes Caltrans to enter into an agreement with the United
States Department of Transportation, United States
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the United States
Department of Energy, or other federal agencies to carry out
specified requirements.
5)Requires Caltrans, on or before January 1, 2014, to publish or
make available on its Internet Web site a Cool Pavements
Handbook that incorporates existing specifications, testing
protocols, and best practices for cool pavement.
6)Specifies that the Cool Pavement Handbook identify materials
or techniques that reduce the surface temperature of
traditional concrete, have light color, reduce diurnal thermal
stress, remove greenhouse gases, and reduce stormwater runoff.
7)Specifies that Caltrans may include in the Cool Pavement
Handbook any other material or technique to reduce HIE, ozone
formation, or stormwater runoff.
8)Requires that Caltrans include specifications and best
practices in the Cool Pavements Handbook for sidewalks, roads,
plazas, highways, parking lots, school yards, or any surface
designed for vehicular or pedestrian use.
9)Requires that the Cool Pavements Handbook be referenced in
relevant sections of Caltrans Construction Manual and be made
available to the public.
10)Requires Caltrans to implement one or more cool pavement
pilot projects, with the goal of completing construction by
January 1, 2018.
11)Requires Caltrans to submit a report to the Legislature on or
before January 1, 2018, describing the results of the cool
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pavement pilot projects. The report is required to include an
analysis of the cost of various pavement surfaces,
environmental benefits, energy savings, life cycle evaluation,
and durability of various pavement options.
12)Sunsets reporting requirements on January 1, 2022.
13)Requires the Department of Housing and Community Development
(HCD) to consider incorporating cool pavement specifications
in the California Green Building Standards Code.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires Caltrans to adopt a balanced, multimodal research and
development program that includes research and development of
new technologies.
2)Requires that building standards adopted or proposed by a
state agency be submitted to and approved or adopted by the
California Building Standards Commission prior to being
codified.
3)Provides, under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (also
referred to as the Clean Water Act), that discharge of
pollutants to water is prohibited unless the discharge is in
compliance with a National Pollution Discharge Elimination
System (NPDES) permit.
4)Authorizes the SWRCB to administer the NPDES program in
California.
5)Authorizes the SWRCB to issue permits to regulate covered
storm water discharges.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, one-time costs for Caltrans to compile information
for the Cool Pavement Handbook within two years and to conduct
and analyze one or more cool pavement pilot projects by 2018
should not exceed $125,000.
COMMENTS : According to the EPA, the term "heat island" refers
to warmer urban air and surface temperatures that result when
natural landscape is replaced with hardscape surfaces such as
pavement, buildings, and other infrastructure. Studies
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performed by the EPA and others have shown that the mean air
temperature of urban areas can be significantly warmer than
surrounding rural areas and that these warmer urban temperatures
can result in increased summertime peak energy demand, air
conditioning costs, air pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions.
One of the primary methods thought to reduce HIE is the use of
cool pavements. "Cool pavements" typically refers to paving
materials that reflect more solar energy, enhance water
evaporation, or have been otherwise modified to remain cooler
than conventional materials. At the present time, there is no
official standard or labeling program to designate cool paving
materials to designate which materials perform best under given
circumstances.
According to the author, the combination of excessive heat and
sunlight leading to HIE exacerbates health problems via the
production of ozone (smog) and that increased temperatures
indirectly produce emissions and increase energy consumption due
to increased demand for artificial cooling. The author asserts
that the intent of this legislation is to acknowledge that paved
surfaces contribute to HIE and to identify and implement
HIE-mitigating options.
The author notes that many cost-effective cool pavement
technologies and materials are already in use and that these
materials and techniques, if applied, will serve to mitigate HIE
impacts. According to the author, Caltrans is the appropriate
state agency to compile a Cool Pavement Handbook, identifying
materials or techniques that reduce the surface temperature of
traditional concrete, because Caltrans has a large body of
engineering expertise relative to pavement research and
construction as well as experience working closely, through
public processes, with other state agencies and the federal
government. The author feels that Caltrans best suited to test
the Cool Pavement Handbook because it conducts and oversees a
large number of paving projects in and around the state.
Caltrans, on the other hand, contends that it does not have the
staff, nor the expertise or resources, to carry out the
requirements set forth in this bill. In fact, Caltrans contends
that the status of the science relative to cool pavement
methodologies is still relatively young and that a significant
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amount of research would need to be conducted to identify
materials and techniques that reduce surface temperatures of
traditional pavements. It is also likely that the pilot testing
and reporting requirements set forth in this legislation would
require a redirection of Caltrans staff away from other work.
Previous legislation: AB 2013 (Krekorian) of 2008 would have
required the HCD to propose building standards that would
authorize the use of water-permeable pavement for specified
purposes. The bill died in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
AB 956 (Skinner) of 2009 would have required Caltrans, no later
than January 1, 2011, to establish standards for the solar
reflectance of paved surfaces. The bill was not heard in the
Transportation Committee.
Analysis Prepared by : Victoria Alvarez / TRANS. / (916) 319-
2093 FN:
0001075