Steinberg wants it to occur within a smaller circle around downtown.
Basically the bill would work like this: Each metropolitan region would adopt a "sustainable community strategy" to encourage compact development. They'd mesh it with greenhouse emissions targets set by the California Air Resources Board, which is charged with commanding the state's fight against global warming.
And this is the key part: Transportation projects that were part of the community plan would get first dibs on the annual $5 billion in transportation money disbursed by Sacramento. (Projects approved before 2010 would be funded under the current system.)
Another biggie: Residential home-builders would be granted relief from much of the environmental red tape for projects within the community plan.
Local governments also would be required to expedite zoning and allow the builders to actually build.
"We needed to create more certainty," Manning says.
He adds that builders decided they'd rather help plan the strategy for the war on global warming than just wait for the state air board to act unilaterally.
Environmentalists had the same attitude.
"It's a watershed moment for the environmental community," Tom Adams, board president of the California League of Conservation Voters, told the Assembly Local Government Committee on Tuesday as the panel approved the bill. "We realized we had to encourage growth, but growth in the right location. Otherwise, we'd get growth anyway, but in the wrong location."
Adams calls the measure "the most important land-use bill in California since enactment of the Coastal Act" three decades ago.
"Emissions from cars and light trucks are the largest single source of greenhouse gas in California," he continues. "We will never be able to achieve our climate goals unless we locate housing closer to jobs. The number of miles that people drive is increasing almost twice as fast as the population growth."
It's an unusual coalition: environmentalists and home-builders.
Cities and counties also support the bill. They gain extended planning time for housing.
But Steinberg couldn't reach deals with every interest, and there is still opposition from commercial property owners, the transportation lobby and manufacturers. They all want the same environmental streamlining deal that home-builders got.
"We're moderately opposed," says Jack Stewart, president of the California Manufacturers and Technology Assn.
Steinberg says the bill can be tweaked next year. Time has run out for this legislative session.
The bill is on the Assembly floor and, if passed as expected, must return to the Senate for approval of amendments. No Republican voted for the measure when it first passed the Senate last year before substantial amending. It requires only a simple majority vote.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger hasn't taken a position on the bill. But since global warming has become his pet issue, it's hard to imagine him vetoing the measure. Anyway, it would be a lousy way to begin a relationship with the next Senate leader.
The governor can think about it this way: Los Angeles would probably be a lot more livable today if this law had been passed 50 years ago.
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george.skelton@latimes.com
