Thank you to Ken Alex, director of Project Climate at the University of California at Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy and Environment, who presented Land Use and Transportation at the Transportation Seminar on Mar. 15, 2024.
Abstract: SB 743 became law in 2013, enabling a significant change in how the transportation impacts of development projects are evaluated under the California Environmental Quality Act. Environmental review that once focused on “level of service” impacts, must now determine how development projects impact vehicle miles traveled. Are we making a dent in the 300 billion vehicle miles a pear that Californian’s drive? Ken Alex helped instigate the change and shepherded the five-year process to produce implementing regulations. Ken will discuss how SB 743 came to be, the challenges in completing the regulatory process, and, ten year later, what impact the law has had on cities, CalTrans, vehicle miles traveled, and environmental review.
Bio: Ken Alex is the director of Project Climate at the University of California at Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy and Environment, focusing on the most promising climate solutions and moving them more quickly to policy and scale. From 2011 to 2018, Ken was a Senior Policy Advisor to Governor Jerry Brown, the Director of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research, and the Chair of the Strategic Growth Council, focusing on climate, energy, environment, and land use issues. Before joining the Governor’s Office, Ken was the Senior Assistant Attorney General heading the environment section of the California Attorney General’s Office, and the co-head of the Office’s global warming unit. From 2000 to 2006, Ken led the California Attorney General’s energy task force, investigating price and supply issues related to California’s energy crisis. Ken is a graduate of Harvard Law School and holds a B.A. in political theory from the University of California at Santa Cruz.