The Transportation, Water, and Infrastructure Committee (TWIC) annually reviews the State and Federal Legislative Platforms for revisions to sections under its purview.
Staff with responsibility for items on TWICs referral list are provided the option to bring platform revisions to either TWIC or the Legislation Committee given the dual responsibility for the platform update. In the event that legislative platform modifications for TWIC referred items are brought to the Legislation Committee, staff is instructed to inform TWIC of the changes.
Lara Delaney, the County's staff lead on legislation, sent out a request for review and comment on the platform. This item is in response to that request and is an initial review. Additional staff comments and recommendations will be brought forward at a future meeting for finalization and ultimately forwarding to the full Board of Supervisors.
September TWIC Meeting
TWIC conducted an initial review/comment at the September meeting, this item continues that discussion. September revisions include the following:
Federal
- Only the concept of adding language to support the West County BART/High Capacity Rail extention was discussed at the September TWIC meeting. Staff has now populated the item with detailed language which largely mimics the language previously used to advocate for funding for the eBART project in East Contra Costa County.
#. West Contra Costa High Capacity Transit Project: $10 million for environmental review and engineering activities for the options identified in the West Contra Costa Transportation Advisory Committee's West County High Capacity Transit Study. Tasks may include, but not necessarily be limited to, environmental review, and partial completion of engineering, evaluation and refinement of alignment and stations, development of capital and operating costs, land use/environmental justice analysis, completion of environmental review including appropriate mitigations, development of preliminary engineering, and public outreach. (Potential Programs: FTA – New Starts, FHWA/FTA Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality, BUILD Grant)
State
- Proposal For New Legislation: Seniors/Persons with Disabilities Transportation Funding Program
- Transportation: # 239 SUPPORT regional coordination that provides for local input in addressing transportation needs....relief from the requirements imposed on the County by the state relative to the Iron Horse corridor would foster coordination along this multijurisdictional corridor. Added the following language to more directly authorize new legislation to resolve the Iron Horse corridor ownership/encumbrance issues: "Such relief could be provided through administrative action or County sponsored legislation."
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New Revisions for October TWIC
Submitted by the Hazardous Materials Commission/Health Services
State
SUPPORT efforts to coordinate planning between school districts, the state, and local jurisdictions for the purposes of: (1) locating and planning new schools, (2) funding programs that foster collaboration and joint use of facilities, and (3) financing off-site transportation improvements for improved access to existing schools. The County will urge the California Department of Education’s (DOE) current Title 5 update effort to include removing the current conflict between current school siting policies and sustainable communities. Related to this effort, the County supports reform of school siting practices by way of legislative changes related to any new statewide school construction bond authorization. The County takes the position that reform components should include bringing school siting practices and school zone references in the vehicle code into alignment with local growth management policies, safe routes to school best practices, State SB 375 principles, and the State Strategic Growth Council’s “Health in All Policies Initiative.” The County will also urge DOE's current Title 5 update effort to apply the requirements of Title 5, as they pertain to evaluating the risks from hazardous materials, to schools being rebuilt on the site of existing schools and to charter schools, and to include the evaluation of risks from hazardous materials potentially released from nearby industrial facilities due to fire, explosions or accidental releases to school siting criteria. Related to this, the County supports the development of guidelines for assessing and mitigating the risks of siting new schools near industrial facilities and rail lines due to potential explosions and fires from the use, storage, manufacture and transportation of hazardous materials, similar to the guidelines they have established for assessing and mitigating the risks from the transportation of hazardous materials through pipelines. State financial and/or technical support to offset the cost of adhering to new guidelines or requirements should be provided.
The highlighted addition above was not recommended by the Hazardous Materials Commission. TWIC staff added the language (in consultation with Health Services staff) in response to prior TWIC comment/concern on this topic relative to the need to avoid adding any unfunded mandates to local school districts.
Submitted by Transportation:
Staff received a request from the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA) to support a grant application to the National Science Foundation (NSF) Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research (PAWR) grant program. The grant would be to support the design, deployment, and operation of advanced wireless research necessary to develop Connected Contra Costa.
Given the substantial safety component of the PAWR program our current platform has adequate language to support CCTA's effort, #240: “SUPPORT efforts to improve safety throughout the transportation system.”. However, staff is proposing to update our platform to 1) be more consistent with the state of the practice relative to technology, and 2) be more specifically supportive of CCTA's grant application. Staff is anticipating a request for a letter of support from CCTA for their grant, staff would like to issue a letter based on platform support rather than coming back to TWIC and/or the full BOS for authorization.
Proposed Language Revisions:
#239 SUPPORT regional coordination that provides for local input in addressing transportation needs. Coordinated planning and delivery of public transit, paratransit, non-profit/community-based transit, advanced transportation/mobility technology, and rail services will help ensure the best possible service delivery to the public. Regional coordination will be essential to complete planning and development of important regional transportation projects that benefit the state and local road system such as TriLink (State Route 239), improvements to Vasco Road, completion of remaining segments of the Bay Trail, improvements to the Delta DeAnza Regional Trail, and the proposed California Delta and Marsh Creek Trails. Support for consistent, coordinated deployment of advanced transportation/mobility technology such as connected vehicles and automated vehicles, and advanced wireless is also in the public interest. There may be interest in seeking enhanced local input requirements for developing the Sustainable Communities Strategy for the Bay Area mandated by SB 375 for greenhouse gas reduction. It is important that the regional coordination efforts are based on input gathered from the local level, to ensure the regional approach does not negatively impact local communities. “Top-down” regional or state planning efforts would be inconsistent with this goal. Consistent with that position, relief from the requirements imposed on the County by the state relative to the Iron Horse corridor would foster coordination along this multi-jurisdictional corridor. Such relief could be provided through administrative action or County sponsored legislation.
Submitted by East Contra Costa Habitat Conservancy:
State
19. SUPPORT legislative or administrative efforts that favor allocation of funding from the California Greenhouse Gas Cap and Trade Program to jurisdictions that are the largest emitters of greenhouse gas, have disadvantaged communities that are disproportionately affected by environmental pollution, have Natural Community Conservation Plans or similar land conservation (fee title and easement) efforts that will address climate change and have demonstrated a local commitment to climate protection (e.g. established emissions reduction targets, prepared Climate Action Plans, etc.). The County has several creek and wetland restoration projects with carbon sequestration capacity that would likely be eligible for such allocations. Similarly, the County supports land conservation projects that may occur as fee title or easement acquisitions, these also will likely be eligible.
SUPPORT allocations, appropriations, and policies that support and leverage the benefits of approved Natural Community Conservation Plans (NCCPs), such as the East Contra Costa County NCCP. Support the granting of approximately $24 million to the East Contra Costa County NCCP from the $90 million allocation for NCCPs in Proposition 84. Support the continuedinclusion of NCCPs for funding in allocations from Proposition 1 and Prop 64. Support $90 million for implementation of NCCPs and an additional $100 million for watershed protection and habitat conservation in future park, water or natural resource bonds. Support the position that NCCPs are an effective strategy for addressing the impacts of climate change and encourage appropriate recognition of the NCCP tool in implementation of climate change legislation such as SB 375, AB 32 as well as an appropriate tool for spending Cap and Trade revenues. Promote effective implementation of NCCPs as a top priority for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Support an increase to $12.6 million for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Local Assistance Grant program. Support efforts to streamline implementation of NCCPs including exemptions from unnecessary regulatory oversight such as the Delta Plan Covered Actions process administered by the Delta Stewardship Council. Support alignment of State and Regional of Water Board permits (Section 401 clean water act and storm water permits) and California Department of Fish and Wildlife Streambed Alteration Agreement (Section 1602 of the Fish and Game code) and other State natural resource permitting with California Endangered Species Act permitting through NCCPs to improve the overall efficiency, predictability and effectiveness of natural resource regulation. In Prop 68 was passed in 2018 and programs that support NCCPs were allocated funding. In addition to the programs that are identified in Prop 68, NCCPs are eligible to receive other funds, and the County should continue to support these funding allocations. In 2018 we successfully increased CDFW’s Local Assistance Program from $600,000 to $2.6M with funds from Prop 68. We would like to continue that level of funding and it will need ongoing support from local agencies to for that to happen.
Federal
The following non substantive, clarifying information was provided by staff:
5. Regional Habitat Planning and Conservation – $85 million to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s “Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund” to keep pace with land costs and the increasing number of Habitat Conservation Plans (HCPs) throughout the country. The County will support funding for the Fund to be restored to $85 million, the 2010 funding level. This will provide much needed support to regional HCPs in California and nationally, including the East Contra Costa County HCP. Given the prolific growth in the number of regional HCPs, the Fund needs to be increased even more substantially in subsequent years. The East Contra Costa County HCP has received been awarded$39.57.5 million from the Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund in the past ten years and continuing this grant support is of vital importance to the successful implementation of that Plan. The County will pursue increasing appropriations to the Fund in partnership with the National HCP Coalition which includesnumerous counties in northern and southern California and will support requests of the California Habitat Conservation Planning Coalition to increase the Fund up to $85 million.
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