Joint CARB/CTC/HCD Public Meeting

I'm here on behalf of Bike East Bay, and we need a major course correction on California's path to meeting its climate goals.

The recent federal rollbacks to California waivers only make it clearer: **electrification alone is not enough.We cannot si...↓mply swap out gas-guzzlers for electric ones and expect to solve the climate crisis. California must enable people to drive less, and that means fundamentally aligning our housing and transportation investments with the urgent needs of our climate and our communities.

Currently, more than 80% of our transportation funding fuels roadways, leaving a meager less-than-20% for transit, active transportation, and other alternatives. This balance is unsustainable and must dramatically shift.

We urge the state to immediately advance a **"Plan B"** focused on housing and transportation policies that are fully within state, regional, and local control. The integration of work by CARB, the California Transportation Commission (CTC), and the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) is essential. We encourage you to analyze how SB 375 and SB 79** can be leveraged together to meet our climate targets.

While CalSTA's new Sustainable Communities Task Force is welcome, waiting until late next year for a report is far too slow. Our 2035 targets for SB 375 are less than a decade away—we need action now.

A clear, immediate step fully within state control is to align the 2026–27 transportation budget and any new transportation revenue with CalSTA's Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure (CAPTI). Specifically, we urge the CTC to stop funding highway expansion** through programs like SB 1 and STIP.

Our current emphasis on funding driving and expanding highways does more than just undermine climate goals. It deepens the burden of **air pollution, noise, and traffic fatalities** that fall disproportionately on **disadvantaged communities** near freeways. To fix this, we recommend **strengthening community engagement requirements** for transportation projects. Future investments must deliver meaningful, direct benefits to these communities, using the **Caltrans Equity Index (EQI) as a guide.

The time for incremental change is over. Let's invest in a California where it's safe, easy, and desirable to bike, walk, and take transit. Thank you.
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CARB must maintain the strongest possible emissions standards. The federal government's attempts to intervene in California regulation are illegal, and California's right to regulate emissions is long-standing and built on a solid legal foundation. A...↓ll parties know this, therefore, California must ignore the federal government's intervention and continue to enforce California law, regardless of any illegitimate actions from Congress, the Executive branch, or the federal Kangaroo Court.

In addition, California should continue to strengthen its regulations, to provide a counterbalance against the attacks on clean air coming from the illegitimate squatter in the White House who is Constitutionally barred from holding office in the US per Amendment 14, Section 3. In the face of these attacks against all Americans, California can provide leadership and strengthen our rules, and those of other states, to provide a model for how America can be improved, rather than attacked.↓