Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS
410 MRAK HALL
DAVIS,CA 95616-8671
Performing Department
Human Ecology
Non Technical Summary
This project supports the mission of the Agricultural Experiment Station by addressing the Hatch Act area(s) of: rural and community development.This project will study the implementation of two new California state policies related to environmental justice. Environmental justice refers to efforts to address the inequitable distribution of environmental and health burdens as well as access to positive amenities in disadvantaged communities (primarily local income communities and communities of color). It also seeks to increase the access and impact of these communities on the policy and planning decisions that affect their lives. Assembly Bill 617 establishes a process to conduct community-scale air monitoring and to develop plans to reduce air pollution emissions in disadvantaged and highly-polluted areas. Senate Bill 1000 requires cities and counties to produce elements of their General Plans (the documents that guide the long-term development related to transportation, land use, housing, environmental resources and other issues) that focus on environmental justice. Both policies emphasize the value of public participation and engagement, By studying the successes, challenges, lessons learned, and ideas for improvement for the implementation of these policies, the project intends to assist key stakeholders (state legislature and agencies; local governments and planners; community organizations) to collaborate on developing strategies to help these policies achieve their goals of improved health and well-being of typically over-burdened, under-served, and under-represented people and places.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
1. Generate new academic knowledge in the field of environmental justice studies about the potential and perils of California's turn towards localized environmental justice governance;2. Inform local, regional, and state agencies and governments about the factors that influence success in achieving environmental justice goals through local governance.3. Inform the activities of environmental justice social movement organizations to engage effectively in local governance.
Project Methods
Develop a research design for studying the implementation of SB 1000 and AB 617, with a focus on how these new policies have shifted relationships between key actors (environmental justice social movement organization; state, regional and local agencies and governments; and the business sector.The design will include the following.1. Two online surveys (in Qualtrics) to be administered to all stakeholders involved in the implementation of AB 617 and SB 1000 (one for each policy). Stakeholders will include environmental justice advocates; representatives from local, regional, and state agencies and governments; and business leaders.The AB 617 survey has been piloted in the current contract with CARB and will be adapted for use in a longitudinal application. The survey includes questions about participants assessments about the impacts of the policy on dynamics of conflict and collaboration between key stakeholder groups; incorporation of local knowledge into the air quality monitoring and emissions reduction strategy development; and ultimately, the effectiveness of addressing air pollution issues in the most disadvantaged communities. The AB 617 survey will be administered to the steering committees for the10 community air monitoring/ emissions reduction strategy communities (including residents, community advocacy organizations, and businesses), a statewide consultation group, regional air district representatives, CARB staff, and other interested parties.The SB 1000 survey will include questions about the community engagement process of developing the environmental justice elements, the perceived quality of the elements themselves in addressing community concerns, and the impacts on the relationships between different levels of governance systems. The SB 1000 survey will be administered to environmental justice advocates working at the statewide and local scales, residents involved in the planning process; local government officials and planners, and other civic leaders.The surveys will be analyzed through Qualtrics, identifying key themes and the variation in perceptions by population, place and affiliation.2. Two semi-structured key informant interview protocols (one for each policy) to gather in-depth information about the participants' perceptions of the above issues. The survey instrument for AB 617 has been piloted and covers open-ended versions of the question topics in the survey section above. A new protocol will be developed for SB 1000 to cover the categories of questions described in the survey section. The interviews tape recorded, transcribe and analyzed using the NVivo qualitative content analysis package. Each of the two policies will be studied through approximately 30 interviews each.