California charges ahead

California lawmakers want to improve air quality by enhancing incentives for getting rid of older vehicles and for buying no- and low-emissions cars and trucks.

Earlier this month, the Senate Transportation & Housing Committee unanimously passed Senate Bill 1275, also known as the Charge Ahead California Initiative. It speeds up provisions of the Health & Safety Code to ensure funding is available for the buy-back program—which allows California residents to sell their older, high-emissions vehicles in order to take them off the road.

The reason for the initiative, according to the text of the bill, includes the facts that California has seven of the 10 most polluted cities in the United States and vehicle emissions are the No. 1 pollutant. SB 1275 must be passed by a majority vote before going into effect.