California is suffering from a serious shortfall in transportation funding. Two years ago, Governor Brown called for a special legislative session to address this with what would have been the state’s largest transportation funding increase in decades. Though the special session ultimately ended without a deal in place, the need continues to grow.

Now, a new bill nears passage, and it has some major improvements.

But an eleventh-hour change from the trucking lobby is posing a grave threat to air quality. We are particularly concerned about what it could mean for communities who have already suffered from pollution for too long. You can help: Call your State Senator and Assemblymember to say NO to this threat. Find their info here.

On Monday, ClimatePlan released a new report—Leading the Way: Policies and Practices for Sustainable Communities—at an all-day event in Sacramento, bringing together elected officials, advocates, planners, and other leaders from across California to share successful tools for creating sustainable communities.

Leading the Way presents the best strategies yet—what we’re calling “leading practices”—that regions around the state have used for public engagement, funding, planning land-use scenarios, and more. It offers inspiration and solutions that advocates and planners can use in their own communities. You can download the executive summary here or the full report here.

Whew! This year’s legislative season, which ended last week, was quite a whirlwind. While ClimatePlan doesn’t endorse legislation, we work to keep our partners informed about bills that might influence all of our work.

Hang on to your hat — here’s a high-speed rundown:

Guest post by: Matt Vander Sluis, Program Director, Greenbelt Alliance

Adopted in 2013, Plan Bay Area is a groundbreaking regional strategy for how the San Francisco Bay Area can grow in a smart way. Hailed by many as the most progressive Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS) in California, it envisions no sprawl for the next generation, focusing most new development near transit, including homes for people across the income spectrum.

Leading, and lagging

Right now, the Sacramento region is updating its Sustainable Communities Strategy for 2016.

Map of the Sacramento region’s 2016 Draft MTP/SCS Preferred Scenario