This report reviews the key aspects of California’s SB 379, a bill intended to institutionalize preparedness for climate change preparedness by mandating updates of municipal general plans. Among several reccomendations, local capacity was a significant barrier for which service programs are called out as a promising solution.
“Nonprofit support helped municipalities, but more help is needed. Technical assistance programs, like the SGC’s BOOST, helped cities complete adaptation plans, but part-time assistance is not equipped to remedy the deeper dysfunction of staff turnover and loss of institutional knowledge upon transition of staff. These points highlight several important priorities the community of practice must address in order for climate change to be proactively and comprehensively addressed at the local level. Capacity building programs like CivicSpark offer a short-term solution to building local capacity for a given climate planning initiative, but must be accompanied by a longer term commitment to building local expertise and capacity to address climate change across local departments.”