Bill Text: CA AB2649 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Natural Carbon Sequestration and Resilience Act of 2022.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2022-08-11 - In committee: Held under submission. [AB2649 Detail]
Download: California-2021-AB2649-Amended.html
Amended
IN
Senate
June 16, 2022 |
Amended
IN
Senate
June 06, 2022 |
Amended
IN
Assembly
May 03, 2022 |
Amended
IN
Assembly
April 20, 2022 |
Amended
IN
Assembly
March 21, 2022 |
Introduced by Assembly Members Cristina Garcia and Stone (Principal coauthor: Senator Becker) |
February 18, 2022 |
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the Natural Carbon Sequestration and Resilience Act of 2022.SEC. 2.
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(11)State habitat,
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(b)It is the intent of the Legislature that:
(1)Because California Native Americans
have stewarded, managed, and lived interdependently with the lands that now make up the state, they should be included as stakeholders, to share their traditional ecological knowledge, to the greatest extent feasible, in the design of programs established pursuant to this act and their communities and the land they manage should benefit from programs established pursuant to this act, as negotiated between their sovereign bodies and the relevant agencies of the state.
(2)All programs and projects established pursuant to this act should operate in a manner as to enhance natural and working lands and waters, as well as the wildlife dependent on them, in the face of growing climate extremes.
SEC. 3.
Section 38592.3 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:38592.3.
(a) For the purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:(1)“Natural carbon sequestration” is defined as the removal and long-term storage of atmospheric carbon dioxide equivalents by vegetation and soils in and on natural, working, and urban lands.
(2)“Natural lands” and “working lands” have the same definition as found in Section 9001.5 of the Public Resources Code.
(3)“Low-income communities” has the same meaning as in paragraph (2) of subdivision (d) of Section 39713.
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(c)(1)On or before July 1, 2023, the Natural Resources Agency, in coordination with its departments, the state board, and the Department of Food and Agriculture, shall refine existing and establish new, where appropriate, natural carbon sequestration pathways and strategies, as outlined in the Scoping Plan Update, Climate Smart Land Strategy, 30x30 Plan, and other relevant state planning processes to guide the agencies specified in subdivision (f) in developing and implementing programs to help the state achieve the goal set forth in subdivision (b).
(2)The Natural Resources Agency shall include, but not be limited to, the following strategies pursuant to the establishment of the natural carbon sequestration pathways specified in paragraph (1):
(A)Workforce development, staffing, and training to support strategies, programs, and projects to achieve the goal established in subdivision (b).
(B)Enhanced infrastructure to support natural carbon sequestration programs and projects, such as, but not limited to, plant nurseries and compost facilities.
(C)Advancing the use of organic alternatives to synthetic fertilizers, including compost.
(D)Increased support for the natural and working lands mitigation and adaptation planning at the city, county, and regional scale where projects are undertaken to achieve the natural carbon sequestration goal specified in subdivision (b).
(d)(1)The Natural Resources Agency, in coordination with the state board and the Department of Food and Agriculture, shall evaluate and update the pathways, strategies, and actions to achieve the goal established pursuant to subdivision (b) on an annual basis beginning in 2024, concurrently with the scoping plan prepared pursuant to Section 38561, with annual
reporting that includes descriptions of the actions and projects undertaken on natural and working lands to date, quantified progress on emissions reductions, natural carbon sequestration, and cobenefits, and progress to advance the pathways identified in subparagraphs (A) to (D), inclusive, of paragraph (2) of subdivision (c); summary of benefits to low-income and disadvantaged communities, disadvantaged farmers, tribes, and farmers of small and medium farms; a description of how the board calculated emissions reductions, natural carbon sequestration, and benefits; and an evaluation of the efficacy of the pathways, strategies, and program administration and implementation, including programs administered by state agencies.
(2)The carbon dioxide equivalent removal goal specified in subdivision (b) shall be in addition to,
and, therefore, not calculated toward, the emission reduction goals established pursuant to Section 38566, nor the goal established in Executive Order No. S-3-05.
(3)Any market-based or alternative compliance mechanism using carbon sequestration on natural and working lands shall not be counted toward the goals specified in subdivision (b).
(e)Achievement of the carbon dioxide equivalent removal goal shall enhance community health
and resilience and shall not be accomplished in a manner that increases detrimental air quality or water quality impacts on disadvantaged communities, Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities, or lower income communities, and achievement of the goal needs to prioritize investments and projects in communities that have historically been overburdened by pollution or faced other environmental justice hurdles.
(f)In furtherance of the goal established pursuant to subdivision (b), the Natural Resources Agency, the Department of Food and Agriculture, the California Environmental Protection Agency, the Office of Planning and Research, and other departments and offices within these agencies, and the State Department of Education shall expand existing and establish new natural carbon sequestration programs in consultation with a full
range of stakeholders, including public and private landowners and managers, federal agencies, resource conservation districts, Native American tribes, businesses, local governments, land trusts and other nongovernmental organizations, community organizations and leaders, and labor organizations. The programs need to maximize cobenefits, such as enhanced biodiversity and climate resilience, prioritize avoided conversion of natural and working lands, and facilitate practices such as compost application, cover crops, hedgerows, planned grazing, urban forestry, forest management and restoration, riparian restoration, restoration of tidal flows to wetlands, and other forms of wetland restoration, among other relevant practices, and need to do so with attention to the monitoring and technical assistance that facilitates these goals.
(g)State agencies described in subdivision (f) shall implement the programs described in that subdivision in every region of the state with ready access to technical expertise and assistance. The programs shall be implemented in a manner that builds climate resilience and promotes native biodiversity in the state’s forests, soils, croplands, rangelands, coastal areas, wetlands, parklands, schoolyards, urban greenspaces and brownfields, waterways, and nearshore habitats, with an emphasis on protection and ecological restoration on natural lands, conservation practices on agricultural lands, and increased urban greening.
(h)(1)Each state agency described in subdivision (f) that implements a program pursuant to that subdivision shall ensure that at least 50 percent of the resources of the program are directed to
ensure benefits to low-income communities, disadvantaged communities, farmers of small- and medium-sized farms, disadvantaged farmers, and tribes.
(2)Thirty percent of the resources of a program described in paragraph (1) shall be directed to the provision of extension, planning, technical and financial assistance, monitoring and reporting, and other necessary services to landowners, producers, and land managers, including those that are disadvantaged and underserved, to implement natural carbon sequestration projects and practices as integral to implementation of the pathways, strategies, and programs identified in subdivision (c).
(3)Services described in paragraph (2) may be provided by resource conservation districts, Native American tribes, the University of California
Cooperative Extension, the California Conservation Corps,
a community conservation corps, as defined in Section 14507.5 of the Public Resources Code, urban parks departments, state conservancies, and other qualified nonprofit organizations.