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AB-1099 Environmental equity: principles: bond and fund expenditures.(2021-2022)

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Date Published: 03/26/2021 04:00 AM
AB1099:v98#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Assembly  March 25, 2021

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 1099

Introduced by Assembly Member Robert Rivas

February 18, 2021

An act relating to environmental equity. to add Division 50 (commencing with Section 90000) to the Public Resources Code, relating to environmental equity.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 1099, as amended, Robert Rivas. State funding: environmental equity. Environmental equity: principles: bond and fund expenditures.
The existing State General Obligation Bond Law contains procedures for use in authorizing the issuance, sale, and providing for the repayment of, state general obligation bonds. Existing law establishes various funds in the State Treasury for purposes of providing financial incentives to eligible entities for specified purposes.
This bill would require the administration of proceeds from the sales of bonds issued under a bond act that is enacted by the Legislature and is approved by the voters on or after January 1, 2022, pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law and that addresses environmental issues, and the administration of certain funds established on or after January 1, 2022, that provide financial assistance to eligible entities to incorporate certain principles of environmental equity. The bill would require guidelines or regulations adopted by state agencies receiving funding to administer a competitive grant program funded by the proceeds of those bonds or moneys in those funds to meet certain requirements.

Existing law establishes the Strategic Growth Council in state government consisting of various state agency heads and 3 public members. Existing law requires the council to identify and review activities and funding programs of state agencies that may be coordinated to improve air and water quality, improve natural resource protection, increase the availability of affordable housing, improve transportation, meet greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals, encourage sustainable land use planning, and revitalize urban and community centers in a sustainable manner.

This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation to provide new approaches and considerations for directing investments and allocating funds, as well as increasing accountability for how those funds are expended to achieve key objectives. The bill would also state the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation that incorporates, to the extent practicable, specified principles of environmental equity into the administration of all environmental and natural resources state funding.

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NOYES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1) The urgent focus on economic recovery pursuant to the COVID-19 pandemic provides a tremendous opportunity to meaningfully and equitably address the impacts to low-income communities, communities of color, and other disproportionately affected communities and populations who bear the brunt of the impacts of climate change, pollution, and poverty.
(2) These disproportionately affected communities include, but are not limited to, Blacks, Latinos, indigenous people, Asians and Pacific Islanders, immigrants, including undocumented immigrants, and the unhoused.
(3) California’s climate and energy goals will be most successfully achieved if there is a just transition to a regenerative economy that is not dependent on fossil fuels and that ensures all Californians have a clean, safe environment where they live, work, and play, and where disproportionately impacted communities have access to career-path jobs and other economic opportunities.
(4) Significant funding is needed to help prepare California for the severe impacts of climate change, including more devastating wildfires and wildfire smoke, extreme heat, floods, droughts, sea level rise, and other threats to the state’s public health, economy, and ecosystems.
(5) Policy and funding decisions should be subject to sharp scrutiny and strict accountability to ensure program goals are not met by shifting pollution burdens to disproportionately affected communities and populations that already are on an uneven playing field as a result of repeatedly bearing the impacts of unintended or intended consequences of past policies and decisions. Expenditures should not perpetuate, extend, or create new localized air or water pollution, or otherwise disproportionately or negatively impact communities.
(6) Traditionally, natural resource and environmental protection bonds, dedicated special funds, and other funding sources have consisted of authorizing funds to state departments and agencies to carry out previously authorized programs.
(7) New approaches and considerations should be taken for directing investments and allocating funds, including involving disproportionately affected communities to identify high-impact programs that will deliver direct and measurable environmental and economic benefits and increasing accountability for how those funds are expended to achieve key objectives.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that the administration of all environmental and natural resources state funding incorporates these principles of environmental equity.

SEC. 2.

 Division 50 (commencing with Section 90000) is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:

DIVISION 50. Environmental Equity Principles Funding Framework

CHAPTER  1. General Provisions

90000.
 This division shall be known, and may be cited, as the Environmental Equity Principles Funding Framework Act.

90001.
 For purposes of this division, the following definitions apply:
(a) “Disproportionately affected community” means a community that is any of the following:
(1) A disadvantaged community as defined in Section 75005.
(2) A low-income community as defined in Section 39713 of Health and Safety Code.
(3) A community within an area identified as among the most disadvantaged 25 percent in the state pursuant to Section 39711 of the Health and Safety Code.
(4) A community in which at least 75 percent of public school students in the project area are eligible to receive free or reduced-price meals under the National School Lunch Program.
(5) A community located on lands belonging to a federally recognized California Native American tribe.
(b) “State General Obligation Bond Law” means Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 16720) of Part 3 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.

CHAPTER  2. Funding Principles

90010.
 The administration of proceeds from the sales of bonds issued pursuant to a bond act adopted by the Legislature and approved by the voters on or after January 1, 2022, pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law that addresses environmental issues, including climate change, and the administration of moneys in a fund created in the State Treasury in this code or the Water Code on or after January 1, 2022, that provides financial assistance to eligible entities shall incorporate the following principles of environmental equity:
(a) Future-proof our disproportionately affected communities and populations with policy and funding decisions informed by sound science and ground-truthed by these communities to build resiliency, develop and harness local talent for quality jobs, and promote community-based leadership to withstand the shocks and stresses of future anticipated and unforeseen events, resulting in improved environmental conditions, better health outcomes, social cohesion, and increased jobs, entrepreneurship, and economic opportunities, including those relating to energy conservation and nonpolluting, renewable energy.
(b) Prioritize investments and funding to our disproportionately affected communities and populations who have experienced persistent inequities and disparities pursuant to past policies and are subject to the most severe impacts from pandemic, climate change, and pollution through place-based and population-based investments that comprehensively deliver better public health outcomes, environmental benefits, and economic opportunities.
(c) Apply sound science-based frameworks for climate solutions and invest in projects that increase the resilience of both human and natural communities through the protection and restoration of California’s ecosystems and enhancing our natural infrastructure, recognizing the role that improving ecosystems and biodiversity can have on food and water systems, health, and livelihoods.
(d) Maximize impacts by developing an investment plan with a proactive focus on disproportionately affected communities and populations that integrates state and local policy objectives with existing and future investments and funding from all levels of government and private and philanthropic entities, capitalizes on the long-term and short-term nature of funding sources, encourages and funds pilot programs for disproportionately affected communities and populations to identify and allow community members themselves to determine the most effective long-term strategies, and insists on greater accountability and prioritization of existing investments and funding for disproportionately affected communities and populations.
(e) Refrain from funding or otherwise incentivizing programs and projects that exacerbate, perpetuate, or sustain environmental injustice through air pollution, water contamination, or other forms of environmental degradation in already disproportionately affected communities and programs and projects that will shift climate and environmental burdens to disadvantaged or otherwise disproportionately burdened communities.
(f) Enhance success for investments and funding by incorporating capacity building and technical assistance to ensure access to programs and funding opportunities and by rewarding multisectoral collaboration and community involvement to jointly achieve successful outcomes and avoid unintended consequences, and respect the wide array of needs of our diverse disproportionately affected communities and populations and regions, amplify the voices of these communities, and build democratic and economic power in these communities whose histories and experiences should inform standards and strategic objectives unique for each to flourish and thrive.
(g) Ensure investments and funding create high-wage, high-quality jobs that comply with all laws, rules, and regulations, including labor, training, safety, contracting, and environmental requirements and standards.
(h) Commit to a financing authority governance model that includes state finance and policy leads, diverse public representation of inland and coastal interests from our disproportionately affected communities and populations, environmental justice representation, environmental representation, natural resource representation, labor representation, and business representation to establish an accessible, comprehensive “one-stop shop” decisionmaking body and provide accountability for funded projects to meet measurable public health, environmental, and economic outcomes.

90011.
 All funding allocated from the proceeds of a bond or a fund subject to this division shall set aside a minimum of 40 percent to disproportionately affected communities, in furtherance of the goals established pursuant to Section 39713 of the Health and Safety Code.

90012.
 Any guidelines or regulations adopted by a state agency receiving funding to administer a competitive grant program from the proceeds of a bond or a fund subject to this division shall include the following:
(a) Demonstrated partnerships with community stakeholders, including community-based organizations, to ensure that funding decisions are ground-truthed by disproportionately affected communities to build resiliency, develop and harness local talent for quality jobs, and promote community-based leadership.
(b) Prioritization of investments directed to disproportionately affected communities and vulnerable populations who have experienced persistent inequities and disparities pursuant to past and existing policies and programs.
(c) Prohibition from funding or otherwise incentivizing projects that exacerbate, perpetuate, or sustain environmental injustice, as well as projects that will shift climate and environmental burdens to disproportionately affected communities.
(d) Incorporation of resources for capacity building, technical assistance, community engagement, and advance payment to ensure equitable access to programs and funding opportunities.
(e) Commitment to invest in projects that create high-wage, high-quality jobs that comply with all laws, rules, and regulations, including labor, training, safety, contracting, and environmental requirements and standards, and align with an inclusive vision of local and regional economies, including prioritizing programs and projects that advance workforce development opportunities for low-income residents with employment barriers as defined by subdivision (j) of Section 14005 of the Unemployment Insurance Code.

90013.
 Before approving a grant or contract, a state agency receiving funding to administer a competitive grant program from the proceeds of a bond that is subject to this division shall make a finding that the guidelines or regulations adopted to administer the program have met the intent and requirements of this division. State agencies shall submit the finding to the appropriate bond oversight committee, established as “the committee” as that term is used in the State General Obligation Bond Law.

SEC. 3.

 Division 50 (commencing with Section 90000) of the Public Resources Code shall apply to the administration of proceeds from the sales of bonds authorized under _____ of the 2020–21 Regular Session, if adopted by the Legislature and approved by the voters.
SECTION 1.

(a)It is the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation to provide new approaches and considerations for directing investments and allocating funds, including involving disproportionately affected communities to identify high-impact programs that will deliver intentional environmental and economic benefits, and increasing accountability for how those funds are expended to achieve key objectives.

(b)It is the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation to incorporate, to the extent practicable, all of the following principles of environmental equity into the administration of all environmental and natural resources state funding:

(1)Future-proof the state’s disproportionately affected communities and populations with policy and funding decisions informed by sound science and ground-truthed by these communities to build resiliency, develop and harness local talent for quality jobs, and promote community-based leadership to withstand the shocks and stresses of future anticipated and unforeseen events, which would result in improved environmental conditions, better health outcomes, social cohesion, and increased jobs, entrepreneurship, and economic opportunities, including those relating to energy conservation and renewable energy.

(2)Prioritize investments and funding to the state’s disproportionately affected communities and populations that have experienced persistent inequities and disparities due to past policies and are subject to the most severe impacts from pandemics, climate change, and pollution, through place-based and population-based investments that comprehensively deliver better public health outcomes, environmental benefits, and economic opportunities.

(3)Apply sound science-based frameworks for climate solutions, and invest in projects that increase the resilience of both human and natural communities, through the protection and restoration of the state’s ecosystems, enhancing the state’s natural infrastructure, and recognizing the role that improving ecosystems and biodiversity can have on food, water systems, health, and livelihoods.

(4)Maximize impacts by developing an investment plan with a proactive focus on disproportionately affected communities and populations that integrates state and local policy objectives with existing and future investments and funding from all levels of government and private and philanthropic entities, capitalizes on the long-term and short-term nature of funding sources, encourages pilot programs for disproportionately affected communities and populations to identify and self-determine the most effective long-term strategies; and insists on greater accountability and prioritization of existing investments and funding for disproportionately affected communities and populations.

(5)Refrain from funding or otherwise incentivizing programs and projects that exacerbate, perpetuate, or sustain environmental injustice through air pollution, water contamination, or other forms of environmental degradation in communities that are already disproportionately affected, as well as programs and projects that will shift climate and environmental burdens to disadvantaged or otherwise disproportionately burdened communities.

(6)Enhance success for investments and funding by incorporating capacity building and technical assistance to ensure access to programs and funding opportunities and rewarding multisectoral collaboration and community involvement to jointly achieve successful outcomes and avoid unintended consequences. Respect the wide array of needs of the state’s diverse disproportionately affected communities and populations and regions, amplify the voices of these communities, and build democratic and economic power in these communities whose histories and experiences should inform unique standards and strategic objectives for each community to flourish and thrive.

(7)Ensure investments and funding create high-road, high-quality jobs that comply with all laws, rules, and regulations, including labor, training, safety, contracting, and environmental requirements and standards.

(8)Commit to a financing authority governance model that includes state finance and policy leaders, diverse public representation of inland and coastal interests from the state’s disproportionately affected communities and populations, environmental representation, labor representation, and business representation to establish an accessible, comprehensive “one-stop shop” decisionmaking body, and provide accountability for funded projects to meet measurable public health, environmental, and economic outcomes.