Regional climate planning and local outcomes in California

Abstract

In this chapter, we investigate the impact of California’s landmark regional climate planning law Senate Bill (SB) 375 on local climate change planning and policy-making. SB 375 is intended to provide the framework to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as mandated by Assembly Bill 32 by coordinating land use and transportation at the regional level through a “Sustainable Communities Strategy” or SCS. Notably, SB 375 does not carry a mandate for local jurisdictions to develop consistent strategies with the SCS. We find that, in general, mid-size to larger cities are coordinating their policies more than smaller cities. Ultimately, this may negate the negative aspect of the free-rider problem on regional outcomes. However, it still may be too early to tell the ultimate impact of SCS on local initiatives.