Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program.

Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the State Air Resources Board from the auction or sale of allowances as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and to be available upon appropriation by the Legislature. Existing law continuously appropriates 20% of the annual proceeds of the fund to the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program, administered by the Strategic Growth Council, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through projects that implement land use, housing, transportation, and agricultural land preservation practices to support infill and compact development and that support other related and coordinated public policy objectives. Existing law requires the council to develop guidelines and selection criteria for the program. This bill would require the Strategic Growth Council to consider revisions to the guidelines and selection criteria with respect to affordable housing projects that qualify under the program's rural innovation project area, as specified, and to provide a written explanation to the Legislature by March 1, 2017, if the council determines that it will not make the revisions.