Bill Text: CA AB713 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Amended

California Assembly Bill 713 (Prior Session Legislation)

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

Bill Title: State Air Resources Board: greenhouse gas emissions scoping plan: comprehensive health analysis.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2021-08-26 - In committee: Held under submission. [AB713 Detail]

Download: California-2021-AB713-Amended.html

Amended IN Assembly April 12, 2021

Amended IN Assembly March 22, 2021

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 713

Introduced by Assembly Member Cristina Garcia

February 16, 2021

An act to add ~~Section 13979.3 to the Government Code, and to add~~ Section 38591.4 to the Health and Safety Code, relating to public health.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 713, as amended, Cristina Garcia. ~~Health analysis: transportation policies, programs, and funding allocations:~~ State Air Resources Board: greenhouse gas emissions scoping ~~plan.~~ plan: comprehensive health analysis.

(1)Existing law establishes the Transportation Agency, which consists of various departments and state entities including the California Transportation Commission and the Department of Transportation. Under existing law, the agency is under the supervision of an executive officer known as the Secretary of Transportation, who is required to develop and report to the Governor on legislative, budgetary, and administrative programs to accomplish comprehensive, long-range, and coordinated planning and policy formulation in the matters of public interest related to the agency.
This bill would require the Transportation Agency, in collaboration with specified state agencies, to develop an action plan no later than January 1, 2023, to better integrate health analysis broadly into the design and implementation of the state’s transportation policies, programs, and funding allocations with the goal of maximizing health and health equity benefits. The bill would require the California Transportation Commission and the Department of Transportation to incorporate the action plan into the design and implementation of the transportation policies and programs under their jurisdiction.
~~(2)The~~

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 approve 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. The act requires the state board to prepare and approve a scoping plan for achieving the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and to update the scoping plan at least once every 5 years.

This bill would require the state board to conduct a comprehensive health analysis in conjunction with the development of each update of the scoping plan that includes a framework to provide an overview of the breadth of health impacts and health benefits that may accrue from the actions in the scoping plan and the pathways through which various policy actions may result in health impacts or health benefits, as specified.

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

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

SECTION 1.Section 13979.3 is added to the Government Code, to read:
13979.3.
(a)The agency, in collaboration with the State Air Resources Board, the State Department of Public Health, and the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, shall, no later than January 1, 2023, develop an action plan to better integrate health analysis broadly into the design, implementation, and evaluation of the state’s transportation policies, programs, and funding allocations with the goal of maximizing health and health equity benefits.
(b)The agency shall provide meaningful opportunities for the public and impacted communities to provide input into and comment on all aspects of the action plan, including by convening at least two public workshops during development of the plan.
~~(c)The agency may convene, or contract with, or both, a health advisory committee to assist in the development of the action plan.~~
(d)The California Transportation Commission and the Department of Transportation shall incorporate the action plan into the design and implementation of the transportation policies and programs under their jurisdiction.

SEC. 2.SECTION 1.

Section 38591.4 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:

38591.4.

(a) The state board shall conduct a comprehensive health analysis in conjunction with the development of each update of the scoping plan developed pursuant to Section 38561, including the update to be adopted by the state board in 2022, and integrate the health analysis into the development of the elements of the scoping plan and their prioritization within the scoping plan. The state board shall develop the comprehensive health analysis in collaboration with the State Department of Public Health and the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment and other agencies as appropriate.

(b) (1) The comprehensive health analysis shall include a framework to provide an overview of the breadth of health impacts and health benefits that may accrue from the actions in the scoping plan and the pathways through which various policy actions may result in health impacts or health benefits, including pathways through which actions may result in worsening or improving health inequities. The framework shall include, but not be limited to, a consideration of the key factors impacting health described in Section 131019.5.

(2) The comprehensive health analysis shall provide at a minimum a qualitative assessment of the potential health and health equity impacts, including health risks and health benefits of each of the actions recommended in the scoping plan across all sectors included in the scoping plan, based on the pathways identified in the framework. The analysis shall examine the full range of health impacts, outcomes, and benefits that might foreseeably be associated with implementation of actions recommended in the scoping plan, including those associated with changes in the physical, social, and economic environments and conditions in which people live, work, learn, and play. The analysis shall include a qualitative assessment of the relative magnitude of impacts associated with various greenhouse gas reduction strategies to inform the state board of which strategies will have the greatest health and health equity benefits or risks, or both.

(3) Where the qualitative assessment identifies the potential for nontrivial health impacts, more quantitative assessment shall be conducted to the extent feasible, to better understand the magnitude of impacts, and shall provide quantitative effect measurements or projections where possible.

(c) The state board shall identify specific areas in which tools and methodologies are currently unavailable to provide credible quantitative analysis of health impacts and shall identify strategies to fill those gaps.

(d) The state board shall afford the public and impacted communities opportunities to provide meaningful input into and comment on all aspects of the comprehensive health analysis, including through biannual public workshops, incorporation of draft health analysis in draft scoping plan documents, and in an annual report to the state board.