The California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley on Friday passed resolutions aimed at addressing the central San Joaquin Valley's poor air quality and also heard a long wish list of recommendations for boosting the sagging economy from Stockton to Bakersfield.

One of the resolutions supported creating Air Quality Mitigation Zones in economically disadvantaged areas with poor air quality.

Creating the zones could provide financial incentives to put clean air technologies in place.

Pete Weber, co-chairman of the Regional Jobs Initiative, a member of the partnership and facilitator for the work group, said incentives could include state income tax credits, accelerated depreciation of equipment, low- and zero-interest loans and loan guarantees.

A second resolution backs a five-year pilot project for the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District to give incentives for retiring or replacing "high-emitter" or "gross-polluting" vehicles owned by low-income families.

The pilot project is part of a bill introduced recently by Assembly Member Juan Arambula, D-Fresno, who also spoke before the panel Friday and chided fellow Assembly Member Bill Maze, R-Visalia, when Maze said "more money is not the answer" to the region's problems.

"I have to disagree with Bill," Arambula quipped. "Money would help."

Arambula's bill would provide from $2,000 to $4,000 for low-income families who retire a model year 1985 or older vehicle and acquire a "low-emission vehicle."

Arambula also has introduced legislation to create Air Quality Mitigation Zones.

The partnership is made up of eight Cabinet members, eight local government officials, eight civic leaders and two deputy chairs. It has been conducting hearings around the state to gather observations from educators, elected officials, farm and other business leaders, those in health care and real estate professionals.

The partnership held a hearing in Bakersfield on Thursday and will hold hearings in Kings and Fresno counties next month.

Members of the governor's Cabinet who are part of the partnership withdrew from voting on the air quality resolutions to avoid a conflict of interest. The panel was formed by the governor to address the region's economic challenges and includes business and local government leaders.

More than 100 people packed a room at the Visalia Convention Center for Friday's meeting.

Members of three panels opened the public meeting with remarks on how they think the partnership is working and what they see as priorities.

Not surprisingly, a need for infrastructure repair, particularly on Highway 99, was a dominant theme.

Sunne Wright McPeak, secretary of the state's Business, Transportation and Housing Agency and head of the partnership, has called the highway the "backbone" and "Main Street" of the Valley. She said the governor is supporting a $6 billion effort to upgrade the roadway within 10 years.

"[Highway] 99 is overloaded, and we need to expand it safely and efficiently and reduce impacts on air quality," said Steve Worthley, chairman of the Tulare County Board of Supervisors. He added that he believes Valley residents pay a disproportionate share of the costs of addressing air quality and highway needs considering "the goods don't stop at the port."

Several panelists talked of the need to bring a four-year college to Tulare County and also to foster more vocational training, whether at high schools, adult schools, community colleges or elsewhere.

"We need a relevant , sustainable and skilled work force," said Bill DeLain, president of the Tulare County Workforce Investment Board. "One that is competent and confident and can adapt."

Fresno Mayor Alan Autry urged collaboration among county work force investment boards to find work for people who might otherwise leave the region.

"We talk about the brain drain, but I'm also concerned about the brawn drain," he said. "If somebody leaves Fresno, I'd rather he go to Bakersfield than Idaho."

With more coordination, Autry said, perhaps a warehouse worker in one part of the Valley could be pointed, for example, toward a job handling luggage at an airport or hanging drywall in another region.

Visalia Police Chief Bob Williams asked the partnership to look into getting a grant to work on gang "suppression and intervention" in Tulare County.

"We can't arrest ourselves out of the gang problem," Williams said. He added that the county should build on an already effective school-law enforcement collaboration to address gang problems.

Brad Caudill, executive director of the Tulare County Farm Bureau, talked of what he sees as the importance of keeping the Valley's multibillion-dollar agriculture industry alive in the face of residential growth.

Caudill urged use of infill in residential development and keeping alive the Williamson Act, which provides property tax benefits to farmers willing to agree not to develop farmland for a period of 10 years.

He also would like to see utility companies encouraged to purchase excess power from methane digesters on dairies.

The reporter can be reached at dpollock@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6364.