Cap and Trade – Policy in Motion

Clean Transportation Receives $900 Million from Cap-and-Trade Revenue

California Governor Jerry Brown has signed two bills that outline a plan to spend $1.5 billion on environmental initiatives using money from the state’s recently renewed cap and trade program. The bills were signed on Saturday, hours after lawmakers approved the plan to spend most of the money on incentives and rebates to promote a cleaner vehicle fleet.

$900 Million of the funds will be allocated to clean transportation projects – a substantial increase compared to previous years ($680 million for the last four years combined)

This amount is on top of the $900 million allocated according to formula, including $375 million for the State High-Speed Rail Project.

California has set an ambitious goal to have 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles on the road by 2025. Lawmakers hope the rebates will help close the price gap between traditional and electric vehicles.

Here is a breakdown of how the Low Carbon Transportation funds will be spent:

$140M – Clean Vehicle Rebate Project (consumer rebates for electric or fuel cell passenger cars)
$140M – Freight Equipment Advanced Demonstration; Pilot Commercial Deployment Project
$100M – Enhanced Fleet Modernization Program and Plus Up Project (low-income assistance for vehicle scrap and replace); School Buses; Light-Duty Equity Pilot Projects (e.g. electric carsharing in disadvantaged communities)
$180M – Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project ($35M must go to zero-emission buses)
$85M – Agricultural Diesel Engine Replacement and Upgrades

Additionally, $255 Million will be allocated for AB 617 Implementation:

$250M – Community Air Protection (95% to South Coast, San Joaquin Valley, and Bay Area Air Districts; 5% to other Air Districts via CARB)
$5M – Technical Assistance Grants to Community Organizations (i.e. consultants/experts)

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Lauren Michele, Principal / Founder, Policy in Motion

Policy in Motion offers planning practitioners, policymakers, and public agencies an understanding of how to integrate sustainability policy into transportation infrastructure and land use decisions. Lauren Michele’s 2011 book, “Policy in Motion: Transportation Planning in California after AB 32” explores the State’s evolving policies for sustainable living through transportation planning. Lauren’s 2012 film documentary, “Policy in Motion: Growing Beautiful Communities” continues to explore how an integrated approach to transportation planning and funding based on “People-Oriented Development” (POD) can improve community quality of life while meeting California’s environmental and economic goals. Policy in Motion’s book and film are available for purchase online at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and www.policyinmotion.com.

Multi-Media Transportation Policy

This month, Policy in Motion is pleased to announce two exciting communications projects that will help local governments and interested stakeholders better understand the basics of transportation planning and new grant funding opportunities under California’s new Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.

If you happen to be one of the 216,000 people following Streetsblog podcaster, Jeff Wood, on twitter you may have heard that Policy in Motion’s Lauren Michele was recently featured on a podcast called Remaking California’s Transportation System for People and Their Environment. This first podcast in a three part series looks at California’s move to change the way transportation is funded and organized at the state level. With major environmental laws passed in the last decade that focus on reducing greenhouse gasses, California is on the cusp of great change. Lauren Michele and Kate White, Deputy Secretary for Environmental Policy and Housing at CALSTA, were hosted in Part 1 to talk about the new laws and the consolidation of state transportation departments under one agency. Listen to the 13 minute segment on-line or on your phone here.

Policy in Motion worked with the Institute for Local Government (ILG) to launch a new “Cap and Trade Resource Center” this month – a one stop shop for locals to get a reader’s digest version of how California’s cap and trade program works, and what grant funding is available for local governments. Lauren Michele developed the content and materials for ILG’s Resource Center, which summarizes 13 new and existing state agency grant programs funded through AB 32 cap and trade auction revenues that could fund or support local government sustainability efforts.

The information can be found on-line at ILG’s website, downloaded as a full brochure, and/or viewed as an Infographic!

Lauren Michele, Principal / Founder, Policy in Motion.

Lauren earned a Master’s of Science degree from the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies after working as a transportation planning professional at Fehr & Peers, a climate change policy analyst at the Center for Clean Air Policy in Washington D.C., and an air quality program assistant at the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District. At the UC Davis Urban Land Use and Transportation Center (ULTRANS) she focused on the links between California’s Senate Bill 375 and developing federal climate/energy legislation and the transportation reauthorization. Her academic work includes teaching undergraduate courses in Transportation Policy at UC Davis and experiential learning while living and researching multi-modal transportation planning in Europe.

Lauren organized and served as Policy Director for the Transportation Coalition for Livable Communities — a coalition which includes the California Alliance for Jobs, California Transit Association, National Resources Defense Council, League of California Cities, State Association of Counties, and the Metropolitan Planning Organizations and Councils of Governments throughout the state. The Coalition promotes the investment of cap and trade revenue to address both the greenhouse gas reduction goals of AB 32 and critical transportation system maintenance and operation needs that build on the framework of SB 375 and other GHG reduction strategies.

Her firm, Policy in Motion, specializes in sustainable transportation policy. Policy in Motion offers planning practitioners, policy makers, and public agencies an understanding of how to integrate sustainability policy into transportation infrastructure and land use decisions. Lauren Michele’s 2011 book, “Policy in Motion: Transportation Planning in California after AB 32” explores the State’s evolving policies for sustainable living through transportation planning, and identifies how outdated regulatory frameworks must be aligned with supporting paradigm shifts if California is to move forward in a truly unified vision for “People-Oriented Development” and transportation. Lauren’s 2012 film documentary, “Policy in Motion: Growing Beautiful Communities” continues to explore how an integrated approach to transportation planning and funding based on “People-Oriented Development” (POD) can improve community quality of life while meeting California’s environmental and economic goals. Policy in Motion’s book and film are available for purchase on-line at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and www.policyinmotion.com.