The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The state board is required to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020 and to ensure that statewide greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 40% below the 1990 level by 2030, and to adopt rules and regulations in an open public process to achieve the maximum, technologically feasible, and cost-effective greenhouse gas emissions reductions.
The act authorizes the state board to include the use of market-based compliance mechanisms. Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the state board from the auction or sale of
allowances as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and to be available upon appropriation. Existing law requires the Department of Finance, in consultation with the state board and any other relevant state agency, to develop, as specified, a 3-year investment plan for the moneys deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.
Existing law authorizes moneys in the fund to be allocated, as specified, for an investment in a traffic signal synchronization component that is part of a sustainable infrastructure project if the component is designed and implemented to achieve cost-effective reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and includes specific emissions reduction targets and metrics to evaluate the project’s effect.
This bill would additionally authorize moneys in the fund to be allocated for an investment in a traffic signal synchronization component that is part
of a roadway improvement project requiring multiple signals, including, but not limited to, multimodal redevelopment projects, rail trail projects, urban renewal projects, or a project near transit facilities, if the component is designed and implemented to achieve cost-effective reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and includes specific emissions reduction targets and metrics to evaluate the project’s effect.