BILL NUMBER: AB 441INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Monning FEBRUARY 14, 2011 An act to amend Section 65040.2 of, and to add Sections 14522.3, 65040.13, and 65040.14 to, the Government Code, relating to state planning. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 441, as introduced, Monning. State planning. Existing law requires certain transportation planning activities by the Department of Transportation and by designated regional transportation planning agencies, including development of a regional transportation plan. Existing law authorizes the California Transportation Commission, in cooperation with regional agencies, to prescribe study areas for analysis and evaluation and guidelines for the preparation of a regional transportation plan. This bill would require that commission to include health issues, as specified, in the guidelines promulgated by the commission for the preparation of regional transportation plans. Existing law establishes in the office of the Governor the Office of Planning and Research with duties that include developing and adopting guidelines for the preparation of, and content of, mandatory elements required in city and county general plans. This bill would require that the office develop guidelines that contain advice on how local and regional agencies can incorporate health issues, as defined, into local or regional general plans. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 14522.3 is added to the Government Code, to read: 14522.3. The commission shall include health and health equity factors, strategies, objectives, and goals in the guidelines promulgated by the commission for the preparation of regional transportation plans. SEC. 2. Section 65040.2 of the Government Code is amended to read: 65040.2. (a) In connection with its responsibilities under subdivision (l) of Section 65040, the office shall develop and adopt guidelines for the preparation of and the content of the mandatory elements required in city and county general plans by Article 5 (commencing with Section 65300) of Chapter 3. For purposes of this section, the guidelines prepared pursuant to Section 50459 of the Health and Safety Code shall be the guidelines for the housing element required by Section 65302. In the event that additional elements are hereafter required in city and county general plans by Article 5 (commencing with Section 65300) of Chapter 3, the office shall adopt guidelines for those elements within six months of the effective date of the legislation requiring those additional elements. (b) The office may request from each state department and agency, as it deems appropriate, and the department or agency shall provide, technical assistance in readopting, amending, or repealing the guidelines. (c) The guidelines shall be advisory to each city and county in order to provide assistance in preparing and maintaining their respective general plans. (d) The guidelines shall contain the guidelines for addressing environmental justice matters developed pursuant to Section 65040.12. (e) The guidelines shall contain voluntary guidelines for local and regional agencies to incorporate health and health equity factors, strategies, goals, and objectives pursuant to Section 65040.14 into local general plans for the purposes of ensuring that health needs and opportunities are addressed in planning and development at the state and local levels.(e)(f) The guidelines shall contain advice including recommendations for best practices to allow for collaborative land use planning of adjacent civilian and military lands and facilities. The guidelines shall encourage enhanced land use compatibility between civilian lands and any adjacent or nearby military facilities through the examination of potential impacts upon one another.(f)(g) The guidelines shall contain advice for addressing the effects of civilian development on military readiness activities carried out on all of the following: (1) Military installations. (2) Military operating areas. (3) Military training areas. (4) Military training routes. (5) Military airspace. (6) Other territory adjacent to those installations and areas.(g)(h) By March 1, 2005, the guidelines shall contain advice, developed in consultation with the Native American Heritage Commission, for consulting with California Native American tribes for all of the following: (1) The preservation of, or the mitigation of impacts to, places, features, and objects described in Sections 5097.9 and 5097.993 of the Public Resources Code. (2) Procedures for identifying through the Native American Heritage Commission the appropriate California Native American tribes. (3) Procedures for continuing to protect the confidentiality of information concerning the specific identity, location, character, and use of those places, features, and objects. (4) Procedures to facilitate voluntary landowner participation to preserve and protect the specific identity, location, character, and use of those places, features, and objects.(h)(i) Commencing January 1, 2009, but no later than January 1, 2014, upon the next revision of the guidelines pursuant to subdivision (i), the office shall prepare or amend guidelines for a legislative body to accommodate the safe and convenient travel of users of streets, roads, and highways in a manner that is suitable to the rural, suburban, or urban context of the general plan, pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 65302. (1) In developing guidelines, the office shall consider how appropriate accommodation varies depending on its transportation and land use context, including urban, suburban, or rural environments. (2) The office may consult with leading transportation experts including, but not limited to, bicycle transportation planners, pedestrian planners, public transportation planners, local air quality management districts, and disability and senior mobility planners.(i)(j) The office shall provide for regular review and revision of the guidelines established pursuant to this section. SEC. 3. Section 65040.13 is added to the Government Code, to read: 65040.13. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) California faces critical problems that will shape the future of our state and its population such as climate change, water shortages, fiscal challenges, an aging population, and increasing health inequities. (b) California, and the nation, are also facing unprecedented levels of chronic disease, which now accounts for over 75 percent of all deaths in California and 75 percent of all United States health care expenditures. (c) The health of California's population is largely determined by the social, physical, economic, and service environments in which people live, work, study, and play. These environments shape the choices that people make every day, as well as their opportunities and resources for health. (d) "Health in all policies" is a collaborative approach that has been used internationally to address just these kinds of issues. A health in all policies approach recognizes that health and prevention are impacted by policies and strategies that improve health and can also meet the policy objectives of state agencies. (e) Currently, local communities throughout California have begun to include health and health equity criteria in their local planning and land use guidance policies. These plans may serve as models and examples for other local governments and demonstrate ways that health and health equity data, strategies, goals, and objectives may be included within the existing elements or as stand-alone elements in local general plans. (f) In 2008, Executive Order S-04-10 established a Health in All Policies Task Force charged with identifying priority actions and strategies for state agencies to improve community health. Representatives from 19 California agencies, departments, and offices came together in task force meetings, participated in public workshops, and received written comments from a diverse array of stakeholders to establish several recommendations on feasible strategies and actions to promote health in all policies of state agencies. (g) It is the intent of the Legislature to ensure that health equity criteria are included in the state guidance to city, county, and regional governments and agencies in the development of local general plans. SEC. 4. Section 65040.14 is added to the Government Code, to read: 65040.14. (a) The office shall develop guidelines, with the appropriate state agencies and departments as needed, for local cities and counties to include health and health equity factors, goals, strategies, and objectives in local general, specific, or regional plans. The inclusion of health and health equity factors, goals, strategies, and objectives may be included as a stand-alone, optional element or may be addressed within the mandatory elements of the general plan. The office shall include the following health and health equity factors, goals, objectives, and strategies in the guidelines: (1) Data, goals, strategies, objectives and policies to improve community health status, including, but not limited to, all of the following: (A) Causes of death. (B) Vulnerable populations, including infants and children, adolescents, elderly, and low income. (C) Chronic disease rates. (D) Other health status factors that may improve the health of the residents of the local city and county. (2) Data, goals, strategies, objectives, and policies to improve opportunities for recreational and physical activity, including, but not limited to, all of the following: (A) Access to parks, open space, or other similar facilities. (B) Mix of land uses. (C) Land use density. (D) Other factors necessary to promote the availability of open space, recreational activities, and physical fitness to improve the health of residents in the local city and county. (3) Data, goals, strategies, objectives, and policies to improve the availability of retail food establishments offering fresh produce, including, but not limited to, all of the following: (A) Access to healthy foods. (B) Prevalence of fast food and liquor retailers. (C) Local agricultural resources. (D) Food distribution. (4) Data, goals, strategies, objectives, and policies to improve health-promoting transportation systems, including, but not limited to, all of the following: (A) Traffic injuries and fatalities. (B) Transportation modes, including nonmotorized transportation. (C) Commuting rates. (D) Transportation networks including nonmotorized transportation. (E) Other health factors deemed necessary and important in the planning of transportation systems. (5) Data, goals, strategies, objectives, and policies to improve social networks, capital, and civic participation, including, but not limited to, all of the following: (A) Voting and civic participation. (B) Mental health issues. (C) Community safety factors. (6) Data, goals, strategies, objectives, and policies to improve economic and community development, including, but not limited to, all of the following: (A) Jobs and housing ratios. (B) Affordable housing and mixed-income housing. (C) Participation in state and federal poverty assistance programs. (D) Other social environmental factors deemed necessary and important to the improvement of the city and county. (b) The office may coordinate with the State Department of Public Health and other appropriate state departments and agencies in developing the guidelines. The office shall provide technical assistance to local and state agencies and departments on incorporating health equity criteria into city and county general, specific, and regional plans upon the request of any state government, agency, or legislative body. (c) The office shall report to the Governor and his or her cabinet, the Legislature, and other appropriate state and local agencies or departments the number of general plans that include health equity criteria and provide best practices or models for incorporation into general specific, or regional plans.