Biggest Land Use Bill in California in 32 Years Goes to the Governor—SB 375 Would Curb Sprawl and Reduce Global Warming Pollution

What SB 375 Does in a Nutshell

SB 375 offers local governments regulatory and other incentives to encourage more compact new development and transportation alternatives. The basics of the bill are as follows:

• Transportation planning: The California Air Resources Board (CARB) will set regional greenhouse gas reduction targets after consultation with local governments. That target must be incorporated within that region’s Regional Transportation Plan (RTP), the long-term blueprint of a region’s transportation system. The resulting model will be called the Sustainable Communities Strategy.

• Housing planning: Each region’s Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) – the state mandated process for local jurisdictions to address their fair share of regional housing needs – will be adjusted to become aligned with the land use plan in that region’s Sustainable Communities Strategy in its RTP (which will account for greenhouse gas reduction targets).

• CEQA reform: Environmental review will create incentives to implement the strategy, especially transit priority projects.

Why SB 375 is So Special

When the compromise agreement was announced earlier this month, Tom Adams, President of the California League of Conservation Voters, put SB 375 in a historical perspective:

“In my view, SB 375 is the most important land use bill in California since enactment of the Coast Act. It has taken 32 years since that bill was enacted to bring a coalition together who could make major land use change in California. Senator Steinberg has accomplished that in this bill and it is an amazing achievement on his part and we are tremendously grateful for his leadership.

“This is the equation for solving the problems that we face in terms of housing, getting shorter commute times for people. When you have shorter commutes, you reduce vehicle miles traveled. It’s also important to recognize that you reduce traffic congestion.

“What this bill will do is say that regional housing needs assessment and the strategies that will be adopted under the regional transportation planning process will be aligned. The housing distribution throughout the region will be put in locations that will help California achieve its strategic environmental goals of climate policy, air quality, and energy conservation.

“Finally, the bill amends the California Environmental Quality Act, the environmental quality act that is California’s premiere statute for protecting the environment….So that the procedures for environmental review of projects rewards projects that are consistent with strategies that achieve our climate goals, air quality and energy conservation and helps us promote the kinds of transit priority projects that are needed for the future of California.

“Each of these issue areas—land use, the regional housing needs allocation program, and the California Environmental Quality Act are regarded by many people as sacred cows. They certainly are, at a minimum, a minefield for anyone who want to amend them.

“I think to say that we would have just done land use would have been incredible. Or just to have done the housing program or just to have done CEQA. This bill is a trifecta of the impossible. Senator Steinberg has managed to pull together a bill that brings some of the most important and most difficult statutes in the state of California into alignment so that we can achieve housing that is needed, environmental quality, climate policy, air quality, reduced congestion, increased housing choices, and have a better transportation policy for California.”

By sending this bill to Governor Schwarzenegger, the legislature is sending a strong message that it is determined to maintain California’s momentum to curb global warming pollution 30 percent by 2020. We are also planning for our state's future population growth.