California’s long standing air quality programs have historically focused on improving air quality at the state and regional level as well as reducing toxics risk from individual sources. These programs have resulted in significant air quality improvements. However, many of California’s most disadvantaged communities are still disproportionately impacted by poor air quality. Assembly Bill (AB) 617 (C. Garcia, Statutes of 2017) requires new community-focused and community-driven actions to reduce air pollution and improve public health in communities that experience disproportionate burdens from exposure to air pollutants. AB 617 resulted in the establishment of the statewide Community Air Protection Program. This new innovative program is designed to reduce cumulative exposure from criteria pollutants and toxic air contaminants in California’s impacted communities through enhanced monitoring, development of community-specific emissions reduction programs, and a focus on early actions through targeted incentive funding for cleaner technologies. Implementing AB 617 is a joint effort shared by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), the local air districts, and most importantly, community stakeholders.

In 2018, the CARB Governing Board approved the Community Air Protection Blueprint, a guide for how to develop and implement the key elements of the Program. The Blueprint both defines broad statewide actions aimed to support community-scale emissions reductions and establishes the overall Program requirements, with a strong focus on public engagement. This includes criteria for developing and implementing air monitoring plans and emissions reduction programs at the community level.

When the Board approved the Blueprint in 2018, the Board also selected the initial ten communities for focused action, adding three more communities in December 2019. This past year implementation of the emissions reduction programs developed for the initial communities has begun, with continued development of new plans for the recently selected communities.

California has a long history of public health protection through a leading environmental agenda. Despite the significant progress California has made in the last five decades towards cleaning the air, the state has the worst regional air pollution in the country. In addition, there is a renewed interest in transparency and community partnership to advance the understanding of localized air pollution impacts. In 2017, California legislators enacted Assembly Bill 617 (AB 617) to address community-level air pollution concerns by establishing requirements for the State to implement programs to relieve excess air pollution burdens in disadvantaged and low-income areas. This new mandate created the Community Air Protection Program (CAPP), which requires local air agencies to implement new community ambient air quality monitoring programs, develop community emission reduction plans, accelerate implementation of controls on emission sources, and prioritize investments in near-zero or zero emission technologies.

As one of 10 initial targeted communities chosen by the State, the CAPP efforts in Sacramento have produced a monitoring program that is collecting community-level air pollution data, an initial portfolio of clean air vehicle investments, and have assisted in the development of community-led and inspired actions to tackle the disproportionate impacts from air pollution. The South Sacramento-Florin area is a focus community due to its two census tracts that is ranked in the top 5^th percentile of the county for environmental justice concerns (based on exposure to air pollution, number of sensitive receptors, and health and socioeconomic factors) and one tract that is ranked among the top two percentile for cancer burden (based on photochemical modeling in Sacramento). This program creates a unique partnership between local government and community members (residents, businesses, environmental justice organizations) that allows the community to not only identify community air pollution concerns but influence the desired emission reduction or mitigation strategies.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District has been working with five environmental justice communities in southern California as part of the AB 617 program, a ground-breaking new policy designed to address local air pollution problems in disadvantaged communities. The five southern California AB 617 communities are: (1) Wilmington, Carson, West Long Beach, (2) San Bernardino, Muscoy, (3) East Los Angeles, Boyle Heights, West Commerce, (4) Southeast Los Angeles, and (5) Eastern Coachella Valley. Each of these five communities has been designated for both an air monitoring plan and an emissions reduction plan. Community members have participated in every step of the plan development process, with steering committees at the center of this process to identify the community’s air quality priorities, guide the development of the plans, and shape the implementation to ensure that the actions taken will be a benefit to the community. Three such community plans have been adopted, and include specific strategies to reduce local air pollution emissions from trucks, refineries, ports, metal processing facilities, rail yards, and other sources. The actions in these plans include developing or amending regulations, conducting focused enforcement efforts and communicating results, using advanced monitoring techniques to investigate potential sources, training operators on best management practices, conducting community training, and using incentive funding to accelerate the use of cleaner technologies. These plans will reduce the amount of toxic air pollution (including diesel exhaust) in these most-impacted communities, which will ultimately benefit public health. This new program highlights the strength of partnerships between local government agencies and the community to bring real improvements in environmental equity in disadvantaged communities.

The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) is launching new biomonitoring studies to support the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) Community Air Protection Program, which was established as part of implementing Assembly Bill 617 (AB 617) (Garcia, Chapter 136, Statutes of 2017). The aim of AB 617 is to address air quality issues in heavily impacted communities through monitoring programs and emission reduction strategies developed collaboratively with community stakeholders. The biomonitoring studies will complement ongoing air monitoring in these communities by characterizing selected biomarkers of high-priority air pollutants in biological samples from residents. One possible approach would be an intervention study design, which involves measuring biomarkers before and after the implementation of a specific strategy (e.g., installation of air filtration in schools). Results from this type of study can help evaluate the effectiveness of exposure reduction strategies implemented in AB 617 communities. OEHHA will work closely with CARB, regional air districts, community members, and other partners to design these studies, which will be conducted under the purview of Biomonitoring California. OEHHA has initiated engagement efforts by attending AB 617 Community Steering Committee meetings across the state. We will use additional tools like listening sessions, interviews, and surveys to learn more about community concerns and potentially unique exposure pathways. The diverse stakeholder input available through AB 617’s collaborative approach will improve the design and implementation of the biomonitoring studies.