Delivering Results: Council Secures Important Regulatory Reforms

Proposed regulations by the Bay Area Air District that could impose heavy costs on residents, workers and businesses will now undergo more formal socio-economic impact analysis, under a new policy championed by the Bay Area Council during an intensive year-long advocacy campaign. The Air District board today (Sept. 2) voted unanimously to adopt the new policy.

As part of our continuing focus on improving competitiveness and affordability, the Council mounted an intensive year-long advocacy campaign to highlight how new rules and regulations often don’t account for the full direct and indirect costs they can impose on residents, workers and businesses. Even regulations that appear to target just one industry or one business can have significant economic impacts downstream, potentially increasing the prices that consumers pay for a wide of goods and services and, in some cases, even lead to job cuts.

The new policy approved today would require a more complete accounting of those costs to fully inform the development of new regulations before they are adopted. We applaud the Air District for its work and leadership to protect air quality across the region and we are grateful to the Board and staff for working with us to achieve this outcome.