Today's Law As Amended


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AB-1627 Energy: vehicle miles traveled.(2011-2012)



As Amends the Law Today


SECTION 1.
 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) The State Air Resources Board has determined, in its scoping plan adopted pursuant to the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Division 25.5 (commencing with Section 38500) of the Health and Safety Code), that reduction of vehicle miles traveled (VMT) is an essential compliance strategy by which the state will meet the act’s greenhouse gas emission requirements by 2020.
(b) Transportation is the single largest contributor to the state’s greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for 37 percent of all emissions. Three-fourths of all transportation emissions come from single passenger vehicle use. Statewide greenhouse gas emissions increased 10 percent from 1990 to 2008, but emissions from the transportation sector grew even faster, at 16 percent.
(c) In 2008, the Legislature enacted Chapter 728 of the Statutes of 2008, which requires metropolitan planning organizations to adopt regional transportation and development plans to reduce VMT. It is in the interest of the state to augment these efforts and achieve further VMT reductions by the adoption of measures that are applied to individual residential and commercial buildings and projects.

SEC. 2.

 Section 21099 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:

21099.
 (a) Not later than January 1, 2014, the Office of Planning and Research shall prepare and make available a manual designed to be used by local governments, local agencies, and project developers to evaluate and incorporate measures and strategies to reduce vehicle miles traveled in new residential and commercial building projects.
(b) In preparing the manual required pursuant to subdivision (a), the Office of Planning and Research shall, at a minimum, do all of the following:
(1) Identify and evaluate existing measures and strategies for reducing vehicle miles traveled by occupants or users of new residential and commercial building projects.
(2) Identify and evaluate existing means by which projected and actual vehicle-miles-traveled reductions from specific measures and the efficacy of those measures may be determined.
(3) Identify further research needed to improve the measurement and evaluation of vehicle-miles-traveled reductions.
(4) Identify and evaluate the costs associated with implementing vehicle-miles-traveled reduction measures and strategies.
(c) Not later than January 1, 2014, the Office of Planning and Research shall make recommendations to the Legislature and local policymakers, as appropriate, of measures to improve the reduction of vehicle miles traveled related to residential and commercial building projects.