Housing 
SB 46 (Perata) – Pending 

SB 46, as amended April 10 by Senator Don Perata, would provide the statutory framework for expenditure of the $850 in Proposition 1C's Regional Planning, Housing, and Infill Incentive Account. The bill would require the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to administer a competitive program to provide capital outlay grants for infill housing development and for related infrastructure that is an integral part of the infill housing development.
 
SB 46 is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Appropriations Committee on May 21.

Land Use 
SB 167 (Negrete-McLeod) – Support 

SB 167, as amended on March 12 by Senator Negrete-McLeod, would require the Governor's Office of Planning and Research (OPR) to administer four programs funded by the $90 million made available in Proposition 84 for planning grants and incentives. The four programs include grants and loans for general plan revisions, general plan implementation, regional blueprint projects, and municipal service reviews and spheres of influence.
 
CSAC supports the use of the $90 million for planning grants and incentives to assist local governments in the development and implementation of general plans, as well as for blueprint planning. CSAC’s policy recognizes the need to invest in rural, suburban and urban communities alike and we support a countywide approach to dealing with growth through collaboration between a county and its cities to address housing needs, protection of resources and agricultural lands, compatible general plans and revenue and tax sharing agreements for countywide services. For these reasons, we support SB 167.
 
SB 167 is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Appropriations Committee on May 21.
 

SB 375 (Steinberg) – Pending 

SB 375, as amended May 2, would require regional transportation planning agencies (RTPAs) to adopt preferred growth scenarios that establish measures to reduce the region’s greenhouse gas emissions inventories by a certain amount to be determined by the Air Resources Board (ARB). It would also require the California Transportation Commission (CTC) to adopt guidelines for the use of travel demand models by RTPAs that meet specified standards as well as provide for various forms of CEQA relief in communities that conform their general plans to the preferred growth scenario.
 
SB 375 is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Appropriations Committee on May 21.  

Transportation 
SB 286 (Lowenthal & Dutton) – Co-Sponsor 

SB 286, as amended May 14 by Senators Lowenthal and Dutton, is the CSAC and League of California Cities’ co-sponsored bill to provide for implementation, accountability and appropriation of the $2 billion dollars for local streets and roads included in the Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality, and Port Security Bond Act of 2006, passed by the voters in November 2006. Specifically, SB 286 would require the bond proceeds for local street and road purposes to be allocated to cities and counties by the controller in two cycles that cover four years, with the first cycle of payments to be made to eligible local agencies not later than January 1, 2008. An appropriation in the budget is needed for this to occur as well.
 
Additionally, the bill would require a city or county to submit a list of projects expected to be funded with bond funds to the Department of Finance. These projects must be consistent with Proposition 1B provisions as passed by the voters and must also be included in a city or county budget adopted at a public meeting. The measure includes further accountability provisions requiring cities and counties to report additional project information to the Department of Finance regarding expenditure of these funds. Cities and counties are also subject to audit by the state controller’s office to ensure expenditure of these funds is in compliance with statute.
 
Finally, the legislation includes a three-year “use it or lose it” provision and would direct the controller to redistribute unused funds to other cities and counties.
 
CSAC encourages individual counties to express their support for SB 286 to their legislative delegations. SB 286 is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Appropriations Committee on May 21. 
 

SB 748 (Corbett) – Concerns 

SB 748, as amended April 10 by Senator Ellen Corbett, would state the intent of the Legislature to appropriate $200 million for the State-Local Partnership program from bond funds in each of five fiscal years beginning in the 2007-08 fiscal year. SB 748 would define eligible local matching funds required to obtain funding under the program as any revenue from any voter-approved local or regional tax or fee dedicated to transportation improvements. Tax or fee for purposes of this bill would mean a countywide sales tax, a property or parcel tax in a county or counties or district, and voter-approved bridge tolls or voter-approved fees dedicated to specific transportation improvements. Additionally, the bill would limit the amount of bond funding for a single project to $25 million in a single-funding cycle, would describe the categories of projects that may be funded through the program, would establish timelines for expenditure of the funds, and would provide for the reallocation of funding if those timelines are not met.
 
While this bill is broader that just including sales tax as a local eligible match, it does not include uniform developer fees.
 
SB 748 is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Appropriations Committee on May 21.
 

SB 842 (Ackerman) – Pending 

SB 872, as amended May 8 by Senator Dick Ackerman, would create the State-Local Partnership Program and state the intent of the Legislature to appropriate $200 million per year for 5 years beginning in the 2010-11 fiscal year. The bill would provide for allocation of state funds to eligible highway and mass transit guideway projects nominated by local agencies that are to be funded with at least 50 percent of local funds derived from a locally imposed transportation sales tax.
 
SB 872 is also scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Appropriations Committee on May 21.