The Debate Over CA’s Cap-and-Trade Funds Is Not Over

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti led a group of California mayors on a trip to Sacramento to push for legislation on a number of issues that impact cities before the final, frantic weeks of August that mark the end of the legislative session. On their agenda was getting assurance that cap-and-trade funds would be available to help cities reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the coming years.

While the fate of cap-and-trade funds has been decided for this budget year, the mayors said they want to be certain that the program operates as intended and that funds are allocated fairly to urban areas down the line. With hundreds of millions in cap-and-trade funds generated this year, and tens of billions in the years to come, it is hard to blame them.

Garcetti said cap-and-trade funds should support new construction as well as operations of existing mass transit and affordable housing in California's cities, “and not just in the coastal, wealthy areas of the state." Of the $850 million in cap-and-trade funds allocated in this year's budget, only $50 million go towards transit, including capital improvements, intercity rail, and operations.

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan said 10,000 potential residents could be housed along transit corridors in Oakland, adding that investment in transit and affordable transit-oriented development could address issues of wage equality and diversity.

The current state budget allocates $130 million from cap-and-trade funds to a new program, Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC), aimed at concentrating affordable housing in transit-rich areas to encourage new residents to make more trips by transit rather than driving.

The process of creating guidelines for the AHSC is happening right now -- watch for Streetsblog coverage soon.

While none of the mayors offered specific policy changes to the cap-and-trade program, it was one of three issues they focused on in their press briefing, showing that the issue of revenue distribution is far from settled. In a time when governments are straining to make budgetary ends meet, a one-year budget deal won't end debates on how a billion dollar annual program will be allocated in the long term.