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For years, families in the Bay Area city of Richmond have lived with smoke and chemicals drifting from a nearby oil refinery. That kind of exposure poses serious health risks, but a shows how California’s is helping residents take a more active role in monitoring and reducing air pollution in their neighborhoods.

Signed into law in 2017, AB 617 supports locally driven emissions reduction plans in 19 communities across the state. Through Community Steering Committees, residents, local organizations, state and local agencies and businesses work together to shape solutions and ideas for cleaner air.

Professor Jonathan London and Peter Nguyen, both with the Department of Human Ecology, led the independent study that takes a close look at how the law has been implemented across seven of AB 617 selected communities, what’s going well, what still needs work and recommendations to keep it going.