Existing law designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency with the primary responsibility for the control of vehicular air pollution and the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. Existing law imposes various requirements related to transportation planning, including a requirement that certain transportation planning agencies prepare and adopt regional transportation plans directed at achieving a coordinated and balanced regional transportation system. Existing law requires each regional transportation plan to include, among other things, a sustainable communities strategy prepared by each metropolitan planning organization, as specified, which is designed to achieve certain targets for 2020 and 2035 established by the state board for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles and light trucks in the region.

This bill would require the state board, in consultation with the Office of Planning and Research and the Department of Transportation, to develop a methodology for assessing and spatially representing light-duty vehicle miles traveled and to develop maps accordingly to display average light-duty vehicle miles traveled per capita in the state at the local, regional, and statewide level, as provided. The bill would require the state board to adopt the methodology no later than January 1, 2025, and to publish the maps no later than 6 months after the methodology is adopted. The bill would require the state board to update the methodology and maps at least once every 4 years. The bill would require the state board to make the methodology and the maps publicly available on its internet website. Under certain circumstances, the bill would require the state board, in consultation with the Office of Planning and Research, to provide technical assistance with regard to the usage and interpretation of the statewide map to a local agency requesting assistance.

Existing law establishes a policy for expenditure of certain state and federal funds available to the state for transportation purposes. designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency with the primary responsibility for the control of vehicular air pollution and the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. Existing law imposes various requirements related to transportation planning, including a requirement that certain transportation planning agencies prepare and adopt regional transportation plans directed at achieving a coordinated and balanced regional transportation system. Existing law requires certain transportation planning programs and processes to, among other things, identify opportunities to reduce vehicle miles traveled or measure the impact of certain policies on vehicle miles traveled. each regional transportation plan to include, among other things, a sustainable communities strategy prepared by each metropolitan planning organization, as specified, which is designed to achieve certain targets for 2020 and 2035 established by the state board for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles and light trucks in the region.

Existing law establishes a policy for expenditure of certain state and federal funds available to the state for transportation purposes. Existing law imposes various requirements related to transportation planning, including a requirement that certain transportation planning agencies prepare and adopt regional transportation plans directed at achieving a coordinated and balanced regional transportation system. Existing law requires certain transportation planning programs and processes to, among other things, identify opportunities to reduce vehicle miles traveled or measure the impact of certain policies on vehicle miles traveled.

This bill would require state and local transportation agencies to create a single model for vehicle miles traveled mapping to be used for transportation planning and funding. By imposing additional duties on local transportation agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

SENATE COMMITTEE ON

Senator Anthony Portantino, Chair

2023 - 2024 Regular Session

SB 670 (Allen) - State Air Resources Board: vehicle miles traveled: maps

Bill Summary:

This bill would direct the California Air Resources Board (ARB) to develop maps of average light-duty vehicle miles traveled (VMT) at the local, regional, and statewide levels, and provides direction to how those maps should be reconciled with existing ones.

Fiscal Impact:

• ARB estimates ongoing costs of $1.9 million annually (Motor Vehicle Account) to develop and adopt the light-duty VMT estimation methodology, among other things.
• The Office of Planning and Research (OPR) estimates ongoing costs of about $200,000 annually (General Fund or special fund) and one position to assist on GIS issues as it relates to coordinating with ARB. This position would additionally support the initial technical assistance in developing the methodology and subsequent ongoing technical assistance to local governments in data development.
• Unknown but potentially significant ongoing costs (General Fund or special fund) for the Department of Transportation (CalTrans) to consult with ARB and OPR.

Background:

Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT). The transportation sector is directly responsible for 41% of the state’s GHG emissions, and when fuel production is figured in, roughly half of the state’s total emissions are the result of our existing transportation system. Simply put, reaching the state’s 2030 and 2045 climate goals will require a major retooling of the transportation sector.

Transforming the transportation sector goes beyond phasing out combustion technology and producing cleaner fuels. Managing total demand for transportation energy by reducing the miles people need to drive on a daily basis is also critical as the state aims for a sustainable transportation sector in a carbon-neutral economy. Though GHG emissions are declining due to cleaner vehicles and fuels, rising VMT can offset the effective benefits of adopted regulations.

Even with 100 percent zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) sales in the light-duty vehicle sector by 2035, a significant portion of passenger vehicles will still rely on combustion technology. Accordingly, VMT reductions will play an indispensable role in reducing overall transportation energy demand and achieving the state’s climate, air quality, and equity goals. After a significant pandemic-induced reduction in VMT during 2020, passenger VMT has steadily climbed back up and is now closing in on pre-pandemic levels. Driving alone with no passengers remains the primary mode of travel in California, amounting to 75 percent of the mode share for daily commute trips.

Reducing VMT. Sustained VMT reductions have been difficult to achieve for much of the past decade, in large part due to entrenched transportation, land use, and housing policies and practices. Specifically, historic decision-making favoring single-occupancy vehicle travel has shaped development patterns and transportation policy, generating further growth in driving (and making transit, biking, and walking less viable alternatives). These policies have also reinforced long-standing racial and economic injustices that leave people with little choice but to spend significant time and money commuting long distances, placing a disproportionate burden on low-income Californians, who pay the highest proportion of their wages on housing and transportation.

How is California doing on this front? To quote ARB’s 2022 Scoping Plan Update: “we also know we are not on track to achieve the VMT reduction called for in the 2017 Scoping Plan and will need to double down to achieve the even more ambitious target called for in the Scoping Plan Scenario.” Even the aggressive scenario developed by the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies for a carbon neutral transportation sector in 2045 envisioned the goal being met almost entirely by fuel switching, with only a modest VMT reduction from present levels.

SB 743 and the threshold of significance for VMT. Then-Senator Steinberg’s SB 743 of 2013 changed the way many projects evaluate transportation impacts under CEQA. These changes were intended to “better promote the state’s goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and traffic-related air pollution, promoting the development of a multimodal transportation system, and providing clean, efficient access to destinations.” These changes included the replacement of level of service with VMT as the measure for determining significant impacts for land use projects, plans, transit projects, and active transportation projects. They also generally allow for streamlined analysis of land use projects that are located near high-quality transit and in low-VMT areas.

On November 27, 2017, OPR released comprehensive updates to the CEQA Guidelines, including revisions for the analysis of transportation impacts called for by SB 743. One of the most impactful determinations made in the Technical Advisory was for a “threshold of significance” for VMT impacts.

The CEQA Guidelines define a “threshold of significance” to mean “an identifiable quantitative, qualitative or performance level of a particular environmental effect, non-compliance with which means the effect will normally be determined to be significant by the agency and compliance with which means the effect normally will be determined to be less than significant.” Lead agencies have the discretion to develop and adopt their own, or rely on thresholds recommended by other agencies, “provided the decision of the lead agency to adopt such thresholds is supported by substantial evidence.” Substantial evidence means “enough relevant information and reasonable inferences from this information that a fair argument can be made to support a conclusion, even though other conclusions might also be reached.”

After considering a range of targets, OPR ultimately settled on a reasonable threshold of significance for VMT impacts being 15% below the current reality. Put another way, if a project were going to have 15% lower VMT than existing development, it would not need to have its VMT impacts assessed under CEQA. If a project were going to have a VMT equivalent to an existing development’s VMT, it would need to have its VMT impacts assessed. OPR stated that “achieving 15 percent lower per capita (residential) … VMT than existing development is both generally achievable and is supported by evidence that connects this level of reduction to the State’s emissions goals.” It should be noted this is only guidance, and lead agencies are free to set the threshold at a different level, if they have substantial evidence to do so.

Proposed Law:

This bill would direct ARB to develop maps of average light-duty VMT at the local, regional, and statewide levels, and provides direction to how those maps should be reconciled with existing ones. Specifically, this bill would:

1. Make several findings and declarations regarding the importance and intent of the bill.
   
2. Require ARB, in consultation with OPR and the Department of Transportation (CalTrans), to develop a methodology for assessing and spatially representing light-duty VMT, and to develop maps to display average light-duty VMT at the local, regional, and statewide levels.
   
3. Require ARB to adopt the methodology for assessing and representing the maps, and to publish and update those maps, as specified.
   
4. Direct ARB, in consultation with OPR, to provide technical assistance upon request to local agencies regarding the maps.

Related Legislation:

AB 2443 (Wicks, Chapter 653, Statutes of 2022) allows a housing development project to receive added height and unlimited density if the project, among other criteria, is located in an urbanized very low vehicle travel area.

SB 1217 (Allen, 2022) would have created the State-Regional Collaborative for Climate, Equity, and Resilience to, among other things, address the lack of progress the state is making in achieving its climate goals, by updating the sustainable communities strategies program guidelines. SB 1217 died in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee.

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