The Strategic Growth Council held its first meeting on February 17. The Council members, Linda Adams, CalEPA, Kim Belshe, California Health and Human Services, Dale Bonner, Business Transportation and Housing, Cynthia Bryant, Office of Planning and Research, and Mike Chrisman of the Resources Dept, appeared engaged and ready to move forward with a positive agenda.
The Secretaries each made opening remarks and expressed their interest in specific issues and programs. These included the implementation of the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB 32), implementation of SB 375, the State’s Blueprint planning process, the connection between a healthy environment and healthy people, protection of natural resources, and sustainability issues.
Staff to the Council provided presentations on the implementing legislation for the Council (SB 732), the scope of the Council, and administrative items. There was some discussion amongst the Council members regarding these items, and public comment. Several Council members had questions about the connection between Proposition 84, the establishment of the Strategic Growth Council, and the implementation of SB 375, which requires the Air Resources Board to adopt regional greenhouse gas emission targets.
Decisions made by the Council at the meeting included electing Director Bryant of the Office and Planning and Research (OPR) as the Council’s temporary Chair, and agreeing to meet again in the next 4 to 6 weeks, with quarterly meeting schedule to follow. The nomination of Co-Chair was deferred until a public member is appointed.
Action items identified for the next meeting included:
- Staff will propose a schedule for the remaining quarterly meetings in 2009
- Staff will provide a recommendation for how to staff the Council going forward
- Revised Draft Operating Guidelines will be considered for adoption
- The Department of Finance will be invited and the Council will discuss the Infrastructure Report, how to engage in the process, and AB 857 goals
- A presentation from CSG was requested on ideas and examples for how to structure the Proposition 84 grant programs
Materials provided at the meeting are available at www.opr.ca.gov/index.php?a=sch/growthcouncil.html.
SB 375 Implementation: First Meeting of the Regional Targets Advisory Committee
On February 3, 2009, the Regional Targets Advisory Committee (RTAC), established by the passage of SB 375 (Steinberg) last year, held their first meeting. Mike McKeever of the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) will serve as the Chair of the Committee in a consensus building and facilitation role.
By statute, the RTAC is required to provide recommendations to the Air Resources Board (ARB) for regional greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets by September of this year. The Committee has a lot to cover in that timeframe, and therefore plans to have monthly public meetings, which may ramp up to be held twice a month near the end of the process. A subset of the Committee and staff also intends to meet between the public meetings in order to set the agendas and keep things moving along.
Several presentations were given at the February 3rd meeting, including an overview of ARB Scoping Plan and SB 375 by ARB staff, Research on Land Use and Transportation effects on GHG emissions by Fehr and Peers, and a case study by SACOG staff.
There was considerable discussion around the advantages and disadvantages of using reduced vehicle miles traveled (VMT) as a metric, and how that may be different from GHG emissions as a metric. Various topics were raised for consideration, such as the job and housing balance, mixed land uses, fuel prices, avoiding "dense sprawl," public transit, and the varying base characteristics of the different regions in the state.
The Committee discussed the scope of their work using the "Suggested Key Questions for the RTAC to Address," a document circulated with the meeting materials, as a framework for the discussion. There was a great deal of discussion around these questions, and a revised version of this document will be developed and considered for official adoption.
Several people provided public comment, including representatives from Audubon Sacramento, Southern California Leadership Council, Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District, American Lung Association, San Diego Council of Governments, Metropolitan Transportation Commission, and Southern California Council of Governments. Topics brought up for consideration included the protection of natural resources; economic benefits and impacts; aiming for sustainability or the three Es - environment, economy, equity; enhancing public health; measuring VMT on the ground; and using GHG emissions as a metric instead of VMT.
The Committee has tentatively set their regular meetings for the first Tuesday of each month. The next meeting is scheduled for March 4, 2009, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
More information can be found on the RTAC website: http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/sb375/rtac/meetings/meetings.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment