California Air Resources Board

Summary

Would have required specified state transportation programs to incorporate strategies from the Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure (CAPTI) into program guidelines, as provided, and required the California Transportation Agency, the California Transportation Commission, and the California Department of Transportation to establish new transparency and accountability guidelines for certain transportation funding programs, as specified.

View full bill text here

• Category: Transportation Planning, Land Use, and Housing

Governor’s Veto Message

To the Members of the California State Assembly: 

I am returning Assembly Bill 2438 without my signature.

This bill requires the alignment of certain transportation funding programs with the Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure (CAPTI) adopted in July 2021, and requires additional public transparency procedures in the project selection process for various transportation programs.

While I share the goal of addressing the impacts of the transportation sector on climate change, this bill is unnecessary. Work is well under way at the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA), the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and the California Transportation Commission to align funding programs in the bill with CAPTI, with several actions already completed.

CalSTA is committed to reviewing outcomes and integrating public feedback in future years to make modifications to CAPTI, as necessary, to meet the needs of the statewide transportation system. Linking these programs in statute to a specific iteration of this plan inhibits the state's ability to appropriately respond to the evolution of the state's response to climate change.

A draft Annual Report on CAPTI Implementation Progress will be released in October of this year, outlining the progress made on CAPTI implementation since its adoption last July. My Administration will continue collaborating with transportation stakeholders to increase program funding accountability and transparency as well as enhance financial planning for climate change impacts to transportation infrastructure.

For these reasons, I cannot sign this bill.


Sincerely, 

Gavin Newsom

View Governor’s veto message here