Coordinated Activities
On September 23, 2014, the Strategic Growth Council (SGC) released the first draft guidelines for the AHSC program for public comment. The current draft guidelines can be found here.
The AHSC program is supported by auction proceeds derived from the California Air Resources Board’s Cap and Trade Program and will provide grants and/or loans to land-use, housing, transportation, and land preservation projects to support infill and compact development that reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These projects should facilitate the reduction of GHG emissions by improving mobility options and increasing infill development, which decrease vehicle miles traveled and associated emissions, and by reducing land conversion. Projects should also support related public policy objectives, including:
- Reducing air pollution
- Improving conditions in disadvantaged communities
- Supporting or improving public health
- Improving connectivity and accessibility to jobs, housing and services
- Increasing options for mobility, including active transportation
- Protecting agricultural lands to support infill development
The San Joaquin Valley Regional Planning Agencies’ Directors’ Committee (Committee) recognizes that funding provided through this program is an important opportunity to implement key land use and transportation strategies to address climate change within the San Joaquin Valley. Unfortunately, the current draft AHSC guidelines may significantly exclude quality projects within the most disadvantaged region of the state. As a result, the Committee has requested the adoption of the final AHSC guidelines be delayed until the first quarter of 2015 to allow for additional discussion on this important issue. In addition, the Committee has developed a series of recommendations with regard to the guidelines that would provide for a more equitable implementation of the program in the San Joaquin Valley and throughout the state of California. These recommendations can be found in a letter to the Strategic Growth Council at the link below.
Letter to the Strategic Growth Council
Valley project examples
SB 535 Disadvantaged Communities map
AHSC Draft Guidelines
Overall Work Program
The San Joaquin Valley covers over 27,000 square miles and encompasses the eight-county region of Kern, Kings, Tulare, Fresno, Madera, Merced, Stanislaus, and San Joaquin counties. Since 1992, the San Joaquin Valley Regional Planning Agencies (RPAs) have coordinated planning activities involving interregional issues, including air quality conformity, goods movement, funding for regional transportation projects, legislative advocacy, and Sustainable Communities Strategies.
Planning efforts of Valleywide importance are conducted among the eight RPAs through the San Joaquin Valley Regional Agencies’ Directors’ Committee (Directors’ Committee) and the San Joaquin Valley Regional Policy Council (Policy Council), a governing board including elected officials from each Valley RPA and the Executive Director of the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District (Air District), and the Executive Director of the San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority (SJJPA). In Fiscal Year (FY) 2021-22, government affairs contracts for state and federal representation were implemented for the Policy Council.
The FY 2025-2026 Valleywide Overall Work Program (OWP) is a summary document that details major coordinated activities in which all eight regional planning agencies, along with the Air District and SJJPA, are actively engaged. The Valleywide OWP does not replace the need or requirements of each RPA to conduct its own OWP; instead, it is a planning and budgeting tool for shared Valleywide activities.
