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Budget committee advances AB 1 30, includes VMT mitigation bank provision; passed 13–1
Summary
The Senate Budget Committee approved AB 1 30, a budget trailer bill that includes budget and mitigation provisions tied to housing and infrastructure. Committee approved the bill by a 13–1 roll-call. Members debated the bill—s VMT mitigation bank and urged cleanup language to ensure the fund remains optional and does not raise housing costs.
The Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review voted to pass AB 1 30, a budget trailer bill that includes funding and programmatic elements related to housing and infrastructure and a statewide vehicle-miles-traveled (VMT) mitigation bank. The committee approved AB 1 30 by roll call, 13–1.
Department of Finance and administration witnesses described the VMT mitigation bank as an optional mitigation strategy available to project applicants to mitigate transportation impacts under CEQA. Department staff said the bank is intended to provide targeted gap financing and to leverage other funding to reduce mitigation costs for certain infill and affordable-housing projects. Committee members and stakeholders — including business groups and housing advocates — asked for clarification that the bank is an option and not a mandatory surcharge on housing projects. Department of Finance staff pointed to statutory language in AB 1 30 (sec. 58, subd. (b)(3)) that allows a project applicant to select the fund as one mitigation strategy subject to lead-agency proportionality and feasibility determinations.
Several senators emphasized that the VMT bank must be structured so it does not increase the cost of housing or shift local mitigation burdens to projects that cannot afford them. The committee record includes requests to return with cleanup amendments that clarify that the bank applies only with the concurrence of lead agencies and project applicants, and to ensure the fund prioritizes infill and affordable housing.
