Transportation: transportation infrastructure: climate change.

Existing law vests the Department of Transportation with full possession and control of the state highway system. Existing law requires the department, in consultation with the California Transportation Commission, to prepare a robust asset management plan that assesses the health and condition of the state highway system and with which the department is able to determine the most effective way to apply the state's limited resources. Existing law requires the department to prepare the California Transportation Plan for submission to the Governor and the Legislature, to complete the 3rd update to the plan by December 31, 2025, and to update the plan every 5 years thereafter, as a long-range planning document that incorporates various elements and is consistent with specified expressions of legislative intent. The plan is required to consider various subject areas for the movement of people and freight, including environmental protection. Existing law requires the Strategic Growth Council, by January 31, 2022, to complete a report that includes, among other things, an overview of the California Transportation Plan and specified sustainable communities strategies and alternative planning strategies. Existing law authorizes the commission, in cooperation with transportation planning agencies, to prescribe study areas for analysis and evaluation by those agencies and guidelines for the preparation of regional transportation plans. Existing law requires designated transportation planning agencies to prepare and adopt regional transportation plans. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would establish a new program to fund climate change adaptation planning for transportation impacts, data collection, modeling, and training. The bill would require the department, in consultation with the commission, to update the asset management plan on or before December 31, 2022, and every 4 years thereafter, and for the updates to take into account the forecasted impacts of climate change on transportation infrastructure. The bill would require the updates to the California Transportation Plan and the Strategic Growth Council's report to include a forecast of the impacts of climate change on transportation infrastructure and measures to address those impacts. The bill would require the commission's revisions to the guidelines for the preparation of regional transportation plans to include a requirement that designated transportation planning agencies take into account the forecasted transportation infrastructure impacts of climate change. By requiring regional transportation plans to take into account this additional factor, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.