Agenda - 02-04-20 6-a - Climate Action Tax Recommendations for FY 2019-20

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6 Many current climate change mitigation projects will extend into the future, and entirely new opportunities will arise as well. With that in mind, on June 111h, 2019,the Board levied an additional cent property tax to provide an estimated $469,272 dedicated to accelerating climate change mitigation through the new Climate Change Mitigation Project in the Capital Investment Plan. During the approval of this Climate Action Tax,the BOCC requested that the CFE provide their feedback on initial project ideas in advance of BOCC review using a formula that prioritized racial equity.The BOCC has regularly emphasized the need to consider racial equity first, so that those who benefit most directly from the County's actions and investments are the people who most need assistance.This scoring formula was created to assess project ideas and a rubric reflecting that formula was used by the CFE to rank order the climate action projects (see Appendix A). Table 1: Orange County Racial Distribution and Poverty Status by Race 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% ❑Overall Racial Makeup 30% 20% ■Racial Makeup of Orange 10% Co. residents below 0% federal poverty level �a Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2013-2017 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Assessment Criteria: Projects were assessed by the CFE based on 6 key criteria. Bullet points below each criterion help to describe how the CFE was directed to apply them along with their relevant expertise. Racial equity is the criterion that holds the highest weight. Recent census figures show that racial minorities make up a more significant portion of the Orange County's residents below the federal poverty line (see Table 1), and disparities such as this make racial minorities more susceptible to the impacts of climate change. The following is the list of criteria and guidance provided to the CFE in scoring the projects: • Racial Equity(0 to 3pts): • Who benefits most directly? If it is likely to be a racial minority, score high. • Are there negative side effects of the project? If these may impact a racial minority, score low. • Emissions reduced (0 to 2 pts): • Consider quantity and location. • Higher scores should go to emissions reduced within Orange County, instead of at a power plant, due to greater health co-benefits.