SACRAMENTO—Legislation was unveiled today by Assemblymember Jared Huffman, Assistant Assembly Majority Leader Kevin de León and Assemblyman Mark DeSaulnier to create a permanent $45 million annual fund to reduce air pollution. AB 255 comes on the heels of the University of Southern California’s 13 year study showing that living near freeways causes lasting and significant damage to children’s lungs and the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.  A broad-based coalition of environmental and children advocates joined these Legislators to announce its introduction.

“California doesn’t only suffer economically for its increasing dependence on foreign oil, but it also suffers from a health standpoint, and most of these health issues involve our most valuable resource, our children,” said Assemblymember Huffman.  “AB 255 will serve as a down-payment towards finally ending our foreign oil dependency and helping us fulfill the goals outlined by the Governor’s recent Executive Order - the Low Carbon Fuel Standard initiative—urging new clean technology development.”

Currently in California, air pollution is a major public health epidemic causing premature deaths, permanent lung damage, skyrocketing asthma rates and other respiratory illnesses.  Children are particularly vulnerable to health risks associated with air pollution as demonstrated in the USC study.  In Los Angeles County alone, asthma is responsible for over 12,000 hospitalizations annually, with most of those patients being children.  Furthermore, asthma is the leading cause for elementary school absenteeism, and hospitalizations for such illnesses cost California’s economy billions of dollars every year in health care expenses and lost productivity.

Assembly Bill 255 would create a permanent fund source for that clean air program by increasing the Smog Abatement Fee from $12 to $16.  The Smog Abatement Fee is a fee that owners of car models six years or newer pay to opt out of the smog check requirement.  This fee was set at $12 two years ago in a budget bill with little to no debate.  The $4 increase would still provide car owners a substantial savings over having to pay for a smog check while generating over $45 million annually to help clean our air, reduce global warming, as well as our dependency on foreign oil.  The $4 increase would be dedicated to the California Clean Air and Energy Independence Fund, administered by the California Air Resources Board, and would fund alternative fuel research and development as well as market based incentive programs for clean and renewable energy technologies. 

Assembly Bill 255 is supported by broad-based coalition and will be heard in policy committee this spring and may come to a vote on the Assembly floor in late May.