California State University, Monterey Bay
EN-14: Participation in Public Policy

The campus planning and development staff work with local partners and regional jurisdictions through the Fort Ord Reuse Authority. The campus has advocated for Regional Urban Development Guidelines that promote shared design guidelines to support sustainability include water conservation, building density and massing, etc. FORA is comprised of the Cities of Pacific Grove, Salinas, Seaside, Monterey, Del Rey Oaks, Carmel By the Sea, Marina and the County of Monterey. FORA is set to sunset in 2020 and CSUMB had actively engaged in conversation to ensure a smooth transition if FORA is dissolved, which includes proper management of natural resources of the former Fort Ord. CSUMB actively engages in ensuring policies that are supportive of sustainability are included. This includes meeting with local officials regarding inclusion of bicycle lanes in critical development areas, supporting regional transportation efforts, including the Fort Ord Recreation Trail and Greenway, which helped to secure critical funding for project implementation. CSUMB planning staff and University Administrators meet with officials from Seaside and Marina regarding sustainability elements of neighboring developments, including advocating for pedestrian-oriented development, natural landscape and native landscaping. This includes Campus Town and Main Gate Developments. CSUMB staff advocates for sustainability on the Transportation Agency for Monterey County and has advocated for scooter share programs to be implemented in neighboring jurisdictions (Seaside and Marina).

The CSU does engage in advocacy at the state level through our Advocacy and State Relations (ASR) team, and some of these efforts are for sustainability-related legislation. In terms of state advocacy, the best example I can think of is our advocacy efforts on securing environmental research funding in the cap and trade funds that became available in CA this summer. We wrote letters, met with legislative staff, and testified at budget subcommittee hearings in order to express our support for strong research funding for projects related to climate change. Please note – we also used this opportunity to ensure that CSU would have a chance to apply for the research funds (and that they wouldn’t all go to UC) - but in that process we urged a strong action for research funds. The final outcome was $11 million “to be used to fund research on reducing carbon emissions, including clean energy, adaptation, and resiliency, with an emphasis on California.” This language was included in Section 2 of AB 109 of 2017. Every year, the CSU tracks each bill before the state assembly or senate, and chooses to take an official position on most legislation that would affect the CSU. The ASR team refers any pending bills that are deemed to likely affect the CSU’s operation to the appropriate department at the Chancellor’s Office to review and recommend a position. Any sustainability-related legislation that would directly affect us is referred to the Energy & Sustainability Unit (along with any other relevant departments), and we provide an analysis and recommendation that ASR uses to determine the CSU’s official position on the bill. The level of advocacy involved will be different for each bill, and can range from an official statement of support or opposition to meetings with legislators to testifying in subcommittee hearings as described above. ASR staff couldn’t think of any other sustainability-related legislation they’d supported, though I think this is really because they aren’t very familiar with what would qualify under STARS criteria. I know, for instance, that we did officially support the student transit pass bill (AB 17, previously AB 2222) that passed last year (though it was vetoed). I would suggest that if you want to provide other examples of sustainability-related bills we have officially supported, you check ASR’s site that lists our official position on all state-level legislation: https://www2.calstate.edu/impact-of-the-csu/government/Advocacy-and-State-Relations Environmental Stewardship is also called out as a key legislative priority on ASR’s website: https://www2.calstate.edu/impact-of-the-csu/government/Advocacy-and-State-Relations/Pages/other-legislative-issues.aspx.

1. Advocacy and State Relations (ASR) led by Chancellor's Office - Nichole Munoz-Murillo and Wess Larson. 2. Administrative law agencies like Utilities Commission, Energy Commission, Air Resources Board, Strategic Growth Council, Office of Planning and Research, Cal-Fire, etc. – Led by CO subject matter experts 3. Local Administrative law agencies like local Air Pollution Control District (APCD) or Sanitary/Waste districts – led by CO or regional campus leaders 4. Surrounding cities & counties (Climate Action and/or Resilience Plans, General Plan updates, CEQA, etc.) led by campus Executives and staff.