Sacramento Briefing 2025: Lighting the Way
The second annual UCLA Luskin Briefing at UC Student and Policy Center in Sacramento took place on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025.
FACULTY PRESENTERS
In cooperation with affiliated research centers, UCLA faculty members discussed their recent research findings.
How Can California Maximize Investment Benefits for Heat-Resilient Communities?
Presented by the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation
California is making significant investments and targeted interventions to build resilience to extreme heat, particularly for its most vulnerable communities. In support, the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation conducts research to inform state policies and investments that address extreme heat. LCI researchers and other expert panelists will shed light on why state legislators should care about extreme heat mitigation and management, what the state is doing, and how upcoming investments and additional policies could benefit Californians in direst need of intervention in settings such as schools, homes and public spaces.
Panelists
Moderator: Alissa Ko, Health Net
Faculty Presenter: V. Kelly Turner, UCLA Luskin
Legislator: State Sen. Caroline Menjivar
Agency Representative: Braden Kay, Governor’s Office of Planning and Research
Community Representative: Christian Rodriguez Ceja, Kounkuey Design Initiative
Can California Reduce Vehicle Miles Traveled? Should It?
Presented by the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies
California has declared that it wants to reduce the total number of vehicle miles traveled (VMT) across the state. In this session, presenters will discuss strategies and best practices for achieving this complex goal. VMT is accompanied by undeniable costs but also by real benefits — and the benefits may be largest, paradoxically, in places where driving is most common. Thus, the broader goal of making VMT less necessary involves both reducing the amount of space given over to automobiles while also recognizing that, for the immediate future, some increases in driving will be socially desirable.
Panelists
Moderator: Catharine Baker, UC Student and Policy Center
Faculty Presenters: Adam Millard-Ball and Michael Manville, UCLA Luskin
Legislator: State Sen. Catherine Blakespear
Agency Representative: Chanell Fletcher, California Air Resources Board
Sacramento Briefing 2024: Transformative Action
The UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs presented its inaugural UCLA Luskin Briefing at UC Center Sacramento on Feb. 14, 2024.
FACULTY PRESENTERS
In cooperation with affiliated research centers, UCLA faculty members discussed their recent research findings.
Greg Pierce
Adjunct Associate Professor of Urban Planning; Co-Executive Director of the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation
Changing How — and Where — Californians Get Their Water: UCLA Luskin researchers have examined which strategies work best for cities coping with dwindling water resources amid climate change. Research efforts that analyze water policy in six major metropolitan areas can guide legislators toward the best decisions on major statewide investments as the state of California transitions from reliance on imported water to increased usage of nontraditional sources such as recycled water, stormwater collection and desalination.
Michael Lens
Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy; Associate Faculty Director, Lewis Center
Responding to Homelessness Through Land Use and Zoning Policy: A Fair Housing Land Use Score developed at UCLA measures the extent to which local regulations promote inclusion across neighborhoods. The Southern California scorecard shows most city zoning and housing plans do not advance fair housing goals, in some cases exacerbating rather than reversing segregation. Excluding new housing from desirable neighborhoods likely contributes to housing scarcity and unaffordability, while increasing the risk of systemic homelessness.
OTHER PRESENTERS
Current legislators, representatives of government agencies and other policy experts provides insights during the panel discussion and Q&A sessions that followed. They included: Ben Allen, Tia Boatman Patterson, Isaac Bryan, Cecilia Estolano, Sasha Kergan, Richard Kravitz, Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, Maria Mehranian, Nichole Morgan and Rick Zbur.
Information is powerful only when it’s in a form that can guide achievable change. This year, the Luskin School is highlighting innovators — here and elsewhere — turning vision into reality and producing Transformative Action.
