Sacramento, CA – Four leading Senators called today for significantly increased state funding to reduce emissions from trucks and buses. The legislators said such funding is needed to improve air quality and help reduce toxic emissions along freight corridors and near ports and schools.

CALSTART, the nation’s largest clean transportation technology industry organization, strongly backed the call made by the Senators Lara, Skinner, Pan, and Wiechowski.

“We are at a pivotal point where the technology is emerging, and we now have the chance to move toward a future where trucks and buses produce either zero or virtually zero emissions,” said CALSTART’s Senior Vice President Bill Van Amburg.

“In addition to improving public health, California policies are resulting in significant new job creation.  Companies are moving to California to build trucks and buses because this is where the market is growing the fastest,” said Van Amburg.

In the final weeks of the 2017 legislative session, the Senators are calling for $1 billion in funding from the California greenhouse gas Cap-and-Trade program to be focused on cleaner trucks and buses. This would amount to a tripling of the amount of funds spent last year.

California is leading the nation in the deployment of zero emission buses and hybrid trucks, due in large part to prior Cap-and-Trade investments. More than 3,200 hybrid, electric, fuel cell, and low NOx natural gas trucks and buses are operating on the streets of California due to prior investments.