Bill Text: CA AB649 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery: Office of Environmental Justice and Tribal Relations.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Passed) 2022-09-23 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 492, Statutes of 2022. [AB649 Detail]

Download: California-2021-AB649-Amended.html

Amended  IN  Assembly  March 11, 2021

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 649


Introduced by Assembly Member Bennett

February 12, 2021


An act to amend add Section 42997 of 40403 to the Public Resources Code, relating to solid waste.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 649, as amended, Bennett. CalRecycle Greenhouse Gas Reduction Revolving Loan Program. Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery: Office of Environmental Justice and Tribal Relations.
The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 establishes in the California Environmental Protection Agency the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery with specified powers and duties relating to waste management.
This bill would establish the Office of Environmental Justice and Tribal Relations within the department. The bill would prescribe the duties of the office, including, among others, ensuring that the department’s programs effectively address the needs of disadvantaged communities, low-income communities, California Native American tribes, and farmworkers.

Existing law establishes the CalRecycle Greenhouse Gas Reduction Revolving Loan Program, administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, to provide loans to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases by promoting in-state development of infrastructure or other projects to reduce organic waste or process organic and other recyclable materials into new value-added products.

This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to this provision.

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NOYES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 40403 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:

40403.
 (a) The Office of Environmental Justice and Tribal Relations is hereby established within the department.
(b) Duties of the office shall include, but are not limited to, all of the following:
(1) Ensuring that the department’s programs effectively address the needs of disadvantaged communities, low-income communities, California Native American tribes, and farmworkers.
(2) Providing an evaluation of a range of strategic, scientific, technological, regulatory, and economic issues for the department related to environmental justice and tribal relations.
(3) Integrating environmental justice considerations into department programs, policies, and initiatives.
(4) Lessening the environmental impacts on those communities disproportionately burdened by environmental harm and risks.
(5) Addressing environmental justice by ensuring meaningful involvement of disproportionately burdened communities in department decisionmaking, building capacity to address environmental impacts in disproportionately burdened communities, and promoting collaborative problem solving for issues involving environmental justice.
(6) Strengthening partnerships with other governmental agencies at the federal, city, county, and tribal level regarding environmental justice issues.
(7) Enhancing research and assessment approaches related to environmental justice.
(8) Collaborating with impacted communities and governmental agencies to promote equitable data collection regarding environmental burdens.
(9) Improving access to technical resources for disadvantaged communities.
(10) Enhancing protections for vulnerable communities.

SECTION 1.Section 42997 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read:
42997.

(a)The CalRecycle Greenhouse Gas Reduction Revolving Loan Program is hereby established and shall be administered by the department.

(b)(1)The department shall expend the moneys transferred pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 42996, and any additional moneys appropriated by the Legislature for the purposes of this subdivision, to provide loans to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases by promoting in-state development of infrastructure or other projects to reduce organic waste or process organic and other recyclable materials into new value-added products. The moneys shall be expended consistent with the requirements of Article 9.7 (commencing with Section 16428.8) of Chapter 2 of Part 2 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code and Chapter 4.1 (commencing with Section 39710) of Part 2 of Division 26 of the Health and Safety Code.

(2)For a loan made pursuant to this subdivision, the department shall expend the moneys in the loan fund to provide loans to public and private entities for in-state infrastructure projects or other projects that reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases by any of the following:

(A)Organics composting.

(B)Organics in-vessel digestion.

(C)Recyclable material manufacturing.

(D)Activities that expand and improve waste diversion and recycling, including, but not limited to, food waste prevention.

(3)For the purposes of this subdivision, eligible infrastructure projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions include, but are not limited to, any of the following:

(A)Capital investments in new facilities and increased throughput at existing facilities for activities, such as converting windrow composting to aerated-static-pile composting to use food waste as feedstock.

(B)Designing and constructing organics in-vessel digestion facilities to produce products, such as biofuels, bioenergy, and soil amendments.

(C)Designing and constructing facilities for processing recyclable materials.

(4)For a loan made pursuant to this subdivision, both of the following apply:

(A)The terms and conditions of an approved loan shall be specified in a loan agreement and related documents between the borrower and the department. These terms and conditions shall include reporting requirements that include, but are not limited to, reporting the information specified in Section 16428.9 of the Government Code.

(B)The department shall approve only those loan applications that demonstrate the applicant’s ability to repay the loan.

(5)The department may establish additional requirements that it determines to be necessary or useful to achieve the revolving loan program’s objectives, including, but not limited to, ensuring repayment ability.

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