BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: Ab 441
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: Monning
VERSION:
1/23/2012
Analysis by: Art Bauer FISCAL: Yes
Hearing date: June 12, 2012
SUBJECT:
Transportation planning
DESCRIPTION:
This bill requires the California Transportation Commission
(CTC) to attach to its guidelines for preparing regional
transportation plans a summary of policies, practices, or
projects that promote health that metropolitan planning
organizations (MPOs) can use in regional transportation plans
(RTP).
ANALYSIS:
Existing law requires the CTC to adopt guidelines to govern the
RTPs that the state-designated regional transportation planning
agencies (RTPA) and the federally-designated metropolitan
planning organizations (MPO) prepare. In addition, the CTC, in
consultation with the Department of Transportation (Caltrans)
and the California Air Resources Board, is required to maintain
guidelines for travel demand models used in the development of
the RTPs. The CTC guidelines also provide a framework to ensure
that the RTPs address regional planning requirements, including
the sustainable community's strategy, an element of SB 375
(Steinberg), Chapter 728, Statutes of 2008. The CTC is also
authorized to prescribe study areas for analysis and evaluation
for the MPOs and the RTPAs to include in their RTPs. The RTPs
are important because under state and federal law transportation
projects cannot be funded unless they are included in the RTP.
This bill requires the CTC to include a summary of the policies,
practices, or projects that MPOs have employed to promote health
and health equity in regional plans as an attachment to its
regional transportation planning guidelines. The summary may
reference The Safe Routes to Schools program, multiuse
recreational trails, and pedestrian and bicycle pathways.
AB 441 (MONNING) Page 2
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . The purpose of this bill is to suggest to RTPAs and
MPOs that they include transportation programs and projects in
their RTPs that promote health. According to the author,
decisions about land use and transportation have enormous
influence on our health. The Institute of Medicine argue that
improving health in the 21st century will require new
approaches, including strategies to deal with unhealthy
buildings, urban congestion, poor housing, poor nutrition, and
environmentally-related stress. Research shows that
transportation and neighborhood design can directly impact the
likelihood of developing certain preventable health conditions
such as asthma, diabetes, obesity, depression, unintended
injuries, and some cancers. Transportation policy is directly
linked to our health through its effects on physical activity,
air quality, and the risk of injury. Recent studies have
found that when public transportation is accessible, people
tend to walk or ride a bike to and from train stations and bus
stops, which increases their physical activity. Additionally
for every hour walked each day, a person's risk of obesity
decreases by five percent. The author believes that current
RTP guidelines do not adequately address how land use and
transportation policies impact the health of our state's
residents.
2.Background . The assumption underlying this bill is that there
is a link between the "built environment," such as streets,
patterns of both residential and commercial development ,
transit systems, location of parks, and other features of
human habitation, and health issues such as obesity, diabetes,
asthma, and traffic fatalities. Because of this linkage, it
is necessary, in the opinion of the sponsors, to widen the
scope of health planning. To this end, the RTP guidelines
provide a means to bring these concerns to the attention of
the transportation planning community by appending examples of
transportation programs and projects that rely less on auto
transportation and more on walking, bicycling, and using
public transit.
The proponents argue that the emphasis in SB 375 to reduce
vehicle miles traveled creates an opportunity in the regional
transportation planning process to address the strong
connection between the built environment and a myriad of
health outcomes. There has been a very strong focus on local
AB 441 (MONNING) Page 3
community designs and city general plans that are now leading
to new plans, projects, and policies to improve health and
safety.
3.An emerging awareness . Some RTPAs/MPO's, notably SANDAG in
California, are taking steps to incorporate walking,
bicycling, Safe Streets to School, and other related
activities that reduce auto dependency and encourage walking
and related forms of mobility into their RTP.
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 50-23
Appr: 12-5
Local Gov't: 6-3
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday,
June 6, 2012)
SUPPORT: American Heart Association
California Pan Ethnic Health Network (sponsor)
California Black Health Network
California Center for Public Health Advocacy
California Foundation for Independent Living
Centers
California State Controller
Central California Regional Obesity Prevention
Program
Children Now
Health Officers Association of California
Regional Asthma Management and Prevention
Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors
South Coast Air Quality Management District
John Chiang, State Controller
Transform
The following individuals:
Dona van Bloemen
Ellen Franzen
Joanna Katz
Marta Lindsey
Sarah Patrick
Amit Shoham
Jenny Woods
OPPOSED: Placer County Transportation Planning Agency
AB 441 (MONNING) Page 4