AB 6: Transportation planning: regional transportation plans: reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

Existing law requires that each sustainable communities strategy, among other things, set forth a forecasted development pattern for the region that will reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases from automobiles and light trucks to achieve the regional targets established by the state board.

This bill would additionally require the forecasted development pattern to maintain those emission reductions through the 20-year or longer life of the regional transportation plan, including any amendments to the regional transportation plan.

The bill would require each sustainable communities strategy to identify and analyze connectivity areas, permeability, and natural landscape areas within the region, to consider wildlife passage features, and to avoid, minimize, and mitigate impacts and barriers to wildlife movement to the maximum extent feasible.

Existing law requires a metropolitan planning organization to prepare an alternative planning strategy if the sustainable communities strategy is unable to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases to achieve the greenhouse gas emission reduction targets established by the state board, as specified.

This bill would instead require a metropolitan planning organization to prepare an alternative planning strategy if the sustainable communities strategy is unable to meet the above-described requirement and unable to maintain those emission reductions through the 20-year or longer life of the regional transportation plan, as specified.

This bill would prohibit any environmental review of a project conducted for purposes of the California Environmental Quality Act from relying on a certified environmental impact report prepared for a regional transportation plan if the regional transportation plan does not include a sustainable communities strategy determined by the state board to achieve the regions greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets.

Existing law requires a metropolitan planning organization, after adopting a sustainable communities strategy or alternative planning strategy, as applicable, to submit the strategy to the state board for review, and limits that review to acceptance or rejection of the metropolitan planning organizations determination that the strategy would, if implemented, achieve the regions greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.

This bill would expand the state boards authority to review a sustainable communities strategy or alternative planning strategy, as applicable, by eliminating the restriction that limits the review to acceptance or rejection of the above-described determination. The bill would authorize the state board to reject that determination if it determines that the strategy is unlikely to be implemented.

Existing law requires each transportation planning agency to adopt and submit, every 4 years, an updated regional transportation plan to the California Transportation Commission and the Department of Transportation.

This bill would require amendments to a regional transportation plan to be submitted to the state board, and require that those amendments quantify the reductions of emissions of greenhouse gases the regional transportation plan would achieve as a result of those amendments and describe the technical methodology used to obtain that result. The bill would authorize the state board to review those amendments.