Agenda - 04-07-20; 6-a - Climate Action Tax Recommendations for FY 2019-20

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6 Future Actions Recommended: Even with all of the current and previous projects, the Board of Orange County Commissioners (BOCC) recognize the need for further investment in energy efficiency to reduce our impact, renewable energy to power the necessary services we provide, and offsets for any unavoidable emissions. 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 11th, 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 social justice and racial equity.The BOCC has regularly emphasized the need to consider justice and equity, 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% ZOverall Racial Makeup 30% 20% ■Racial Makeup of Orange 10% Co. residents below 0% federal poverty level �\aQ �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. Social justice and racial equity is the criterion that holds the highest weight. Low-income households have fewer resources to help them avoid or adapt to the impacts of climate change, and 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). Not all County residents below the poverty line are people of color. Both socio-economic status and racial identity are key factors that will be used to target and track the positive impacts of these programs.