OPR Implementing SB 743: What You Need to Know

While Californians are rightfully focused on COVID-19 during this time, OPR has also received many questions about SB 743 implementation in the past few weeks. The requirement in CEQA Guidelines Section 15064.3 to use vehicle miles traveled (VMT) as the metric for transportation analysis still takes effect on July 1st. The purpose of this webinar is to make this transition as easy and seamless as possible.

OPR staff will walk through OPR’s recommendations on how to implement this change and answer clarifying questions from attendees. The webinar will cover methods of VMT analysis, determining VMT significance, and VMT mitigation for both land use and transportation projects.

Guest presenters from the City of San Jose and UC Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy & the Environment will cover how their jurisdiction has implemented the VMT metric and potential mitigation strategies, respectively.

The webinar will be held on two dates, with the same content each time. Closer to the date, the zoom link and an agenda will be sent out and posted on OPR’s website. Participants are welcome to join for part of one day and part of another. There will also be upcoming online office hours to address more detailed questions.

April 9, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm
April 16, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm                                                                                                                                New Date Added

In the meantime, helpful resources are available at OPR’s SB 743 web page, which contains the latest Technical Advisory and narrated presentations explaining key points from the Technical Advisory:

Technical Advisory on Evaluating Transportation Impacts in CEQA (PDF)

Introduction (Slide Presentation)

Problems with LOS    (Video)
Benefits of VMT    (Video)
Methods for Land Use Projects  (Video)
Full Counting of VMT    (Video)

It also contains a California Air Resources Board document connecting VMT with climate targets found in state law.