Source: ACT News

Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed the Golden State’s multibillion-dollar transportation decarbonization bill, Assembly Bill No. 126 (AB 126), revitalizing the state’s Clean Transportation Program (CTP). Currently, the California Energy Commission (CEC) manages the CTP with a focus on accelerating the state’s transition to zero-emission transportation, having invested about $100 million annually into cleaner fuels and vehicles with demonstrable success. The CEC has mapped their investments on a geographic information system platform.

As the map shows, the CTP was invested in transformational projects statewide, from new electric charging stations on the California-Oregon border to a clean medium- & heavy-duty truck adjacent to the U.S.-Mexico border. Both projects invested in low-income and disadvantaged communities, a key focus of the bill as well. AB 126 mandates that at least half of the funds from the CTP “directly benefit or serve residents of disadvantaged and low-income communities and low-income Californians.”

The legislation’s intentional approach to environmental justice can be tracked through the mapping tool’s filters for Disadvantaged Community, CalEnviroScreen 4.0 2021 (SB535), and Low-Income Community (SB 535). In 2012, the California Legislature passed SB 535 to provide economic and health benefits to underserved populations in California.

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