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Calif. Adopts Stiff Anti-Sprawl Law
New law ties compact growth to $5B in transportation funding
By Ambreen Ali
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Posted Oct 1, 08 1:44 PM CDT
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(Newser)
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The country's most aggressive anti-sprawl bill was signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday, the Sacramento Bee reports. The "first in the nation" bill mandates regional targets for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and uses $5 billion in transportation funding as an incentive to stimulate denser residential development. “This fundamentally changes the way we think about growth,” says the Democrat who sponsored the measure.
“It does not reduce growth,” Darrell Steinberg added. “But it will allow California to grow in ways that are sustainable for our environment.” The law has its critics: Some local officials objected to the state reaching into their jurisdictions, and business groups expressed concern that they would now have to comply with two separate greenhouse-gas policies.