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8A Page 3 The Assembly Budget Committee for the Extraortfinary Session held an informational hearing on the impact of the state's Inability to sell bonds. This was described In detail by State Treasurer Lockyer when he spoke on Monday to the combined session. Importantly for cities, the Treasurer's office Informed the committee that the $187 million In cities' local street and road bonds authorized in the current year budget have in fact been sold, and that cities will get their funding this year. The League strongly urges cities to move quickly to access this money and put it to use In your communities. Both houses plan to continue their budget Information hearings today. 'ARB Continued from Page 1... The board's action was applauded by the League of California Cities and representatives from many Individual cities that traveled to Sacramento to testify on the plan. League testimony was delivered by League of California Cities' First Vice President Ken Cooley. Council Member. city of Rancho Cordova. A key concern for the cities was that board might increase a proposed target of 5 million metric tons (MMT) of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) that local planning organizations must aChieve by reducing regional transportation-related GHG. The League argued that the 5 MMT figure should not be increased further, in deference to the regional target setting process that was carefully negotiated as part of SB 375. the recently- passed landmark legislation on regional transportation planning by Sen. Darrell Steinberg (0- Sacramento ). "I'm here with my colleagues from other cities to let you know that we supported Sen. Darrell Steinberg's S8 375, because we believed that regional targets grounded In science, data' and stakeholder participation were the right way to go, said Cooley. "It would be a mistake for this board to make an arbitrary increase in the 5 MMT number at this time, before the SB 375 regional planning process had begun." The board later unanimously adopted a resolution as part of the Scoplng Plan that recognized the role of the regional target setting process, but encouraged the ultimate goals be "ambitious" and "achievable. " Cooley also reminded the board that cities are a wtlling partner In the state.s goal of reducing GHG, but their efforts are hampered by state budget actions that cut transit programs and take local redevelopment funds. The League thanks the many cities that sent comment letters to the ARB on the Scoping Plan, and the city officials who took the time to travel to Sacramento to attend the hearing yesterday. That participation was essential to our success yesterday. The League of California Cities has supported legislation to combat climate change, and many cities and other local agencies have embraced the challenge of reducing their carbon footprint. The League's research ann. the Institute for Local Government, has produced "best practices" tips for cities to use, and "greening strategies" are a key topic of discussion at League conferences and educational sessions. The positive response by cities and counties to the climate change issue was the subject of a study released last month by the Public Policy Institute of California (PP1C). League Prepared Background and Talking Points on the Scoplng Plan: httD:J/www.cacltles.oralresource flles/2747 4.ScoDinaPlan BackaroundandTalklna Points 11dec08.Ddf . 3