Amended
IN
Assembly
March 16, 2023 |
Introduced by Assembly Member Bennett |
February 02, 2023 |
Existing law states the intent of the Legislature to annually allocate $7,000,000 to the Environmental Enhancement and Mitigation Program Fund to provide grants to local, state, and federal agencies and nonprofit entities to undertake certain environmental enhancement and mitigation projects, including, but not limited to, urban forestry projects, acquisition or enhancement of resource lands, and projects to mitigate the impact of proposed transportation facilities or to enhance the environment.
This bill would revise that statement of legislative intent to instead allocate $10,000,000 annually for that purpose. The bill would also revise the types of projects eligible for funding by, among other things, expressly including natural surface trail improvements, the conversion of rail corridors to trails, pedestrian and cyclist safety
improvements at rail crossings, and roadside recreation.
(1)Since the establishment of California’s Active Transportation Program (Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 2380) of Division 3 of the Streets and Highways Code) pursuant to Chapter 359 of the Statutes of 2013, the state has allocated nearly $2.5 billion to the program. In contrast, during that same period, only $1.7 million in nonstate sources was annually allocated for nonmotorized recreational trails.
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(b)It is the intent of the Legislature that the changes made by this bill apply only to appropriations made on or after the effective date of this measure.
(a)It is the intent of the Legislature to allocate ten million dollars ($10,000,000) annually to the Environmental Enhancement and Mitigation Program Fund, which is hereby created.
(b)Local, state, and federal agencies and nonprofit entities may apply for and may receive grants, not to exceed five million dollars ($5,000,000) for any single grant, to undertake environmental
enhancement and mitigation projects that are directly or indirectly related to the environmental impact of modifying existing transportation facilities or for the design, construction, or expansion of new transportation facilities.
(c)Projects eligible for funding include, but are not limited to, all of the following:
(1)Urban forestry projects designed to offset vehicular emissions of carbon dioxide.
(2)Acquisition or enhancement of resource lands that may provide multibenefits, including nonmotorized trail corridor access and easements, to mitigate the loss of, or the detriment to, resource lands lying within the right-of-way acquired for proposed transportation improvements.
(3)Natural surface trail improvements, conversion of rail corridors to trails, pedestrian and cyclist safety improvements at rail crossings, and roadside recreation.
(4)Projects to mitigate the impact of proposed transportation facilities or to enhance the environment, where the ability to effectuate the mitigation or enhancement measures is beyond the scope of the lead agency responsible for assessing the environmental impact of the proposed transportation improvement.
(d)Grant proposals shall be submitted to the Resources
Agency for evaluation in accordance with procedures and criteria prescribed by the Resources Agency. The Resources Agency shall evaluate proposals submitted to it and prepare a list of proposals recommended for funding. The list may be revised at any time. Before including a proposal on the list, the Resources Agency shall make a finding that the proposal is eligible for funding pursuant to subdivision (f).
(e)Within the fiscal limitations of subdivisions (a) and (b), the commission shall annually award grants to fund proposals that are included on the list prepared by the Resources Agency pursuant to subdivision (d).
(f)Projects funded pursuant to this section shall be projects that
contribute to mitigation of the environmental effects of transportation facilities, as provided for by Section 1 of Article XIX of the California Constitution.
For purposes of the federal moneys received by the state for recreational trails projects described in Section 133(h)(5) of Title 23 of the United States Code, all of the following shall apply:
(a)The Legislature shall annually appropriate all of those moneys to the Department of Parks and Recreation for purposes of its recreational trails program.
(b)When awarding those moneys, the Department of Parks and Recreation may give preference to natural surface, multibenefit trails and trail systems.
(c)Not more than one million seven hundred thousand dollars ($1,700,000) of those moneys may be allocated for motorized trail
benefits.