Amended
IN
Senate
March 21, 2017 |
Senate Bill | No. 263 |
Introduced by Senator Leyva |
February 08, 2017 |
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 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 as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and to be available upon appropriation.
(a)The council shall establish no less than 10 regional centers, equitably distributed across urban and rural areas of the state, to build the capacity of local community organizations, municipalities, and small businesses from disadvantaged communities to participate in state climate investment programs. When selecting regions for a center, the council shall do all of the following:
(1)Develop and adopt regional site solicitation and evaluation guidelines. The guidelines shall include monitoring and reporting requirements. The guidelines may include a limitation on the dollar amount of the grant to be awarded for a center.
(2)Conduct six public meetings to consider public
comments before selecting regional sites.
(3)Publish the draft solicitation and evaluation guidelines on the council’s Internet Web site at least 30 days before the public meetings.
(4)Conduct two meetings in separate locations in northern California, two meetings in separate locations in the central valley, and two meetings at separate locations in southern California.
(b)A center shall be established locally through multistakeholder partnerships to provide and support technical assistance and capacity-building for local community organizations, municipalities, and small businesses from disadvantaged communities, including, but not limited to all of the following:
(1)Working with community-based organizations to establish a regional leadership
development network to identify, train, and support climate leaders from these communities. To avoid duplication of effort, the center shall provide support to existing programs that already meet the criteria of this paragraph.
(2)Initiating and coordinating regional partnerships and collaboration to support coalition building, community engagement, private sector engagement, and policy opportunities around equitable investments, multibenefit solutions, workforce development, and antidisplacement strategies.
(3)Providing funding to community-based and nonprofit organizations to provide technical assistance and planning resources to assist eligible applicants from these communities in project and proposal development, including assistance in using applied research and geospatial data, sustainable best practices, community engagement, and local hiring and job training
strategies.
(4)Engaging philanthropic and private sector partners to provide direct contributions and in-kind assistance to provide additional technical assistance to match state financial investments in disadvantaged communities through state climate investment programs.
(a)The council shall allocate available moneys to community-based and nonprofit organizations to engage with the centers and conduct outreach in disadvantaged communities. Whenever feasible, existing programs and partnerships shall be leveraged and funded to accomplish goals and activities of this part.
(b)Moneys from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, created pursuant to Section 16428.8 of the Government Code, shall be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for allocation by the council pursuant to this part.
The council shall establish the position of Climate Outreach Coordinator covering each designated geographic region of state that has a center. The coordinator shall conduct outreach and provide direct technical assistance to target user groups for the centers in order to identify relevant state funding programs, develop eligible activities, and prepare applications.
(a)The council shall establish a state interagency working group, coordinated by the council and including Climate Outreach Coordinators and staff from the California Transportation Commission, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Food and Agriculture, the Natural Resources Agency, the California Environmental Protection Agency, and the Treasurer, to develop integrated outreach information on state climate investment programs and to coordinate outreach activities with the centers.
(b)The state interagency working group shall promote the effective integration of state climate investment programs for low-income customers and disadvantaged communities, including, but not limited to, energy, water, resilience, housing, and
low-emission transportation infrastructure programs, by accomplishing all of the following:
(1)Identifying opportunities to align program eligibility requirements and reduce redundancies and administrative overhead.
(2)Creating incentives and mechanisms to foster collaboration, standardization, streamlining, integration, and cofunding opportunities with related federal, state, and local agencies.
(3)Convening an annual summit for center staff and users statewide to learn from one another and innovate new strategies for integrating sustainability and equity locally.
(a)
(b)Qualitative assessment of perceived accessibility within disadvantaged communities for relevant state programs.
(c)Financial leverage created for state
climate investment programs from funding sources outside of state programs.
(d)