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Editor's Note: After press time, both measures passed. The Senate approved on a 25-14 vote, legislation aimed at reducing global warming from sprawling developments. The other bill creating a greenhouse gas emission R&D institute passed its final hurdle in the Senate Energy Utilities & Communication Committee August 31. Ground breaking legislation by the incoming head of the Senate, Senator Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), tying state funds given to local agencies for transportation and housing to reducing greenhouse gas emissions is expected to pass. SB 375, which the Assembly approved on a 49-22 vote August 25 and is predicted to pass the Senate August 28, aims to curb greenhouse gases arising from car use driven by sprawling developments. Unsustainable land use is the largest source of rising greenhouse gases in the state. “This is the missing piece to AB 32,” said Amanda Eaken, Natural Resources Defense Council policy analyst. “By limiting sprawl we can take a big bite out of California’s global warming pollution.” AB 32 is the state’s climate protection law that requires a 30 percent cut in California’s global warming gases by 2020. The transportation sector is the largest source of state emissions, estimated at 40 percent, and is followed by the power industry. Household car and truck pollution alone accounts for 30 percent of California’s global warming pollution, according to the NRDC. The California Energy Commission urges the reduction of land use-related carbon emissions. The California Air Resources Board created a subcommittee to offer suggestions for curbing land use-related emissions. State attempts at regulating land use, which is controlled by local agencies, however, have been vigorously resisted by cities and counties that largely control land use, housing development and transportation decisions. Under SB 375, metropolitan planning organizations are required to adopt sustainable and more dense development plans to curb carbon emissions pursuant to AB 32. Funding priority is given to plans aimed at cutting vehicle use arising from unsustainable planning. “This is a really strategic way to address land use,” said Carli Paine, transportation program director for the Transportation and Land Use Coalition. After legislators lambasted regulators for planning to create a $600 million climate change institute at the University of California, a bill was reworked to mirror that plan. It appears headed for passage although it faces significant opposition from business groups. SB 1762 by Senate pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland) originally addressed carbon offsets. It was stripped and rewritten to authorize a $900 million global warming research and work development organization at the University of California. The sum was slashed by one-third this week. The bill was amended and passed by the Assembly Natural Resources Committee on a 5-3 vote August 27. It will be heard by the Assembly Appropriations Committee August 29. Lawmakers insisted that the California Public Utilities Commission overstepped its authority last April when it unanimously approved CPUC president Mike Peevey’s proposed $600 million University of California greenhouse gas research and development center. The commission plan would have had investor-owned utility ratepayers pay for the institute, with an equal amount raised elsewhere. Under the latest amendments, ratepayers at both investor-owned and public utilities would pick up about 40 percent of the tab until 2020. Private utility customers would pay $30 million a year and muni customers would be charged around $7 million annually to fund emission reduction strategies and related workforce development and training. Existing state programs also would be tapped, including the California Energy Commission’s Public Interest Research program, which is funded by ratepayers. Additional money would be diverted from the Department of Motor Vehicles registration pot each year. The bill also requires 100 percent in matching funds to be raised by 2013. The legislation creates a statutorily-directed research program hosted by the University of California similar to other projects, according to a bill analysis by the Assembly Natural Resources Committee. Those include the Tobacco Tax and the Breast Cancer research programs at UC. Under SB 1762, however, state officials have a larger say in the institute’s business. The climate change institute is to be governed by a committee made up of the California Air Resources Board chair, University of California president, and heads of the California Energy Commission and California Public Utilities Commission. Other members include appointees by the Speaker of the Assembly and Senate Rules Committee. The final iteration of the bill also gives state officials more control over the institute’s executive director. Democratic legislators have been flying to and from the Democratic National Convention in Denver to vote on legislation in Sacramento this week. The next couple of days, pending bills will either die or head to the governor’s desk.

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