Bill Text: CA AB761 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Carbon sequestration: working lands.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Failed) 2016-11-30 - From Senate committee without further action. [AB761 Detail]
Download: California-2015-AB761-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 761 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 2, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 21, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 15, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Levine
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Chiu)
FEBRUARY 25, 2015
An act to add Division 10.1 (commencing with Section 10100) to the
Public Resources Code, relating to resource conservation.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 761, as amended, Levine. Carbon sequestration: working lands.
Existing law, the Cannella Environmental Farming Act of 1995,
requires the Department of Food and Agriculture to establish and
oversee an environmental farming program to provide incentives to
farmers whose practices promote the well-being of ecosystems, air
quality, and wildlife and their habitat.
This bill would declare that $50,000,000 shall be
available, upon appropriation, to require the
department department, upon an appropriation
of moneys therefor, to establish a grant program to fund
voluntary projects that increase carbon sequestration and greenhouse
gas emissions reductions on working lands, as defined. The bill would
require the department, in consultation with the Department of
Conservation, the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, the
State Air Resources Board, and the Department of Water Resources, to
develop and adopt project solicitation and evaluation guidelines for
the program, as specified.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) Robust, peer-reviewed, published data strongly support the
hypothesis that soil and vegetation management can significantly
enhance soil carbon sequestration, resulting in a wide range of
environmental and agricultural cobenefits, including increased water
retention in soils; improved water quality, soil health, and forage
quantity and quality; reductions in greenhouse gases; and climate
adaptation and resilience.
(b) Numerous soil and vegetation management strategies exist and
can be employed on farms, ranches, and working lands to sequester
significant amounts of carbon in agricultural soils and vegetation,
thus playing an important role in helping the state meet its 2020
goal in the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Division
25.5 (commencing with Section 38500) of the Health and Safety Code)
and 2050 goal in Executive Order S-3-05 for climate change mitigation
and greenhouse gas reduction. These management strategies include,
but are not limited to, climate beneficial practices, such as
riparian restoration, prescribed grazing, windbreaks, and compost
application.
(c) California's agricultural lands and rangelands account for
nearly 50 percent of the state's land area, and hold the potential to
sequester millions of metric tons of carbon, resulting in enhanced
agricultural production and increased resilience to climate change
and drought.
SEC. 2. Division 10.1 (commencing with Section 10100) is added to
the Public Resources Code, to read:
DIVISION 10.1. Carbon Sequestration on Working Lands
10100. For purposes of this division, the following terms have
the following meanings:
(a) "Carbon farm planning" means a landscape-level
conservation planning process designed to identify greenhouse gas
emissions reduction and sequestration and mitigation opportunities
farming" means implementing a land management strategy
for the purposes of reducing, sequestering, and mitigating
greenhouse gas emissions on working lands and to
quantify quantifying those greenhouse gas
benefits using the United States Department of Agriculture's
COMET-Planner, COMET-Farm, and other quantification tools.
(b) "Department" means the Department of Food and Agriculture.
(c) "Working lands" means privately-owned
privately owned agricultural lands, ranches, and rangelands.
10101. (a) The sum of fifty million dollars
($50,000,000) shall be available, upon appropriation by the
Legislature, to Upon an appropriation of moneys for
the purposes of implementing this division, the department
to shall establish a grant program to
fund voluntary projects that increase carbon sequestration and
greenhouse gas emissions reductions on working lands consistent with
subdivision (b).
(b) (1) A project shall be eligible for funding pursuant to this
division if both of the following criteria are met:
(A) Is located on working lands.
(B) Assists the state in meeting its greenhouse gas emissions
reduction goals.
(2) The department shall prioritize funding for projects pursuant
to this division that provide the greatest level of the following
benefits:
(A) Demonstrate carbon farm planning.
farming.
(B) Sequester carbon in agricultural soils.
(C) Achieve related cobenefits, including, but not limited to, any
of the following:
(C) Reduce
(i) Reduced irrigation demand.
(D) Increase yield and productivity
(ii) Increased yield, productivity, and
resilience on working lands.
(E) Enhance
(iii) Enhanced habitat.
(F) Reduce
(iv) Reduced water quality
impacts from agricultural lands.
(v) Enhanced soil structure.
(vi) Protected and enhanced biodiversity.
(vii) Increased soil water-holding capacity.
(c) The department, in consultation with the Department of
Conservation, the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, the
State Air Resources Board, and the Department of Water Resources,
shall develop and adopt project solicitation and evaluation
guidelines to implement this division.
(d) The department shall quantify the benefits of each project
funded pursuant to this division and shall post that information on
the department's Internet Web site.
