APPROVED AS TO FORM AND LEGALITY
________________________
CITY ATTORNEY’S OFFICE
OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL
RESOLUTION NO. ______________ C.M.S.
INTRODUCED BY COUNCILMEMBER DAN KALB
RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF CALIFORNIA ASSEMBLY BILL 6
(FRIEDMAN), WHICH SEEKS TO REDUCE GREENHOUSE GAS (GHG)
EMISSIONS BY REQUIRING EACH PROJECT IN THE CONGESTED
CORRIDORS PROGRAM TO DEMONSTRATE HOW IT WOULD
CONTRIBUTE TO THE STATE’S GHG EMISSION REDUCTION
TARGETS
WHEREAS, in 2018 the Oakland City Council passed a resolution declaring a climate emergency calling for urgent action to address climate change by taking steps to rapidly reduce our Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and many more policy actions; and WHEREAS, Oakland’s Equitable Climate Action Plan (ECAP), adopted in 2020, calls on the City to reduce our GHG emissions by 56% by 2030 and 83% by 2050; and WHEREAS, Oakland has historically been a leader on addressing climate change, we hope that other cities and the State of California as a whole take the necessary steps to limit their GHG emissions alongside Oakland; and
WHEREAS, California’s transportation sector accounts for roughly 50% of the state’s GHG emissions1; and
WHEREAS, Senate Bill 375 (Steinberg) was a first-of-its kind law to recognize the critical role of integrated transportation, land use, and housing decisions to meet state climate goals; and
WHEREAS, SB 375 requires each of California’s 18 regional Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) to include a new element in their long-range regional transportation plans – a Sustainable Communities Strategy that identifies strategies to reduce GHG emissions from driving; and
1 https://www.energy.ca.gov/about/core-responsibility-fact-sheets/transforming-transportation
2 3353882/LL
WHEREAS, in 2020 the California Air Resources Board (CARB) concluded that “so far, all – acting rationally within the state’s current structure of incentives, political forces, and policy restrictions – have not been able to enact the magnitude of change needed”2; and WHEREAS, under existing law, before starting a specified public participation process, MPOs are required to submit to CARB a description of the technical methodology they intend to use to estimate GHG emissions from their Sustainable Communities Strategy Element, and are only encouraged to work with CARB to conclude that the methodology is accurate; and WHEREAS, AB 6 would go beyond existing law and require MPOs, at least 60 days before starting a specified public participation process, to submit a description of the technical methodology they will use to CARB, and to work with CARB until it is concluded that the technical methodology operates accurately and is approved by CARB; and WHEREAS, AB 6 would also require each project nomination for the Congested Corridor Program to demonstrate how the project would contribute to achieving the state’s GHG emission reduction targets; and
WHEREAS, by passing AB 6, we can make more progress on the transportation sector’s large impact on climate change by further reducing GHG emissions from transportation; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED that the Council of the City of Oakland supports the passage of AB 6 in the California legislature; and be it
FURTHER RESOLVED: That the City Council directs the City Administrator or his designee to immediately distribute this Resolution upon its adoption to Governor Gavin Newsom and State Assemblymember Friedman.
IN COUNCIL, OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA,
PASSED BY THE FOLLOWING VOTE:
AYES - FIFE, GALLO, JENKINS, KALB, KAPLAN, RAMACHANDRAN, REID, AND
PRESIDENT FORTUNATO BAS
NOES –
ABSENT –
ABSTENTION –
ATTEST:
ASHA REED
City Clerk and Clerk of the Council of the
City of Oakland, California
2 https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2018-11/Final2018Report_SB150_112618_02_Report.pdf