Bill Text: CA AB761 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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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

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BILL NUMBER: AB 761	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 15, 2015

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Levine

                        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  farm planning.
  sequestration: working lands.  
   Existing law creates the Department of Conservation and imposes
powers and duties on the department with regard to resource
conservation.  
   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 the department to establish a grant program to fund
projects that increase carbon sequestration  in agricultural
soils, improve soil water retention, and increase the resilience of
  and greenhouse gas emissions reductions on 
working  lands to climate change and drought.  
lands, as defined.  The bill would require the department, in
 coordination   consultation  with  the
Department of Conservation,  the Department of Resources
Recycling and  Recovery   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 
the 54,000,000 acres of rangelands alone  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  Farm Planning  
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  capture
  emissions reduction and sequestration  and
mitigation opportunities on working lands and to quantify 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  Conservation.
  Food and Agriculture. 
   (c) "Working lands" means 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 the
department to establish a grant program to fund projects that
increase carbon sequestration  in agricultural soils, improve
soil water retention, and increase the resilience of working lands
to climate change and drought.   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.  
   (B) Sequester carbon in agricultural soils.  
   (C) Reduce irrigation demand.  
   (D) Increase yield and productivity on working lands.  
   (E) Enhance habitat.  
   (F) Reduce water quality impacts from agricultural lands. 

   (b) 
    (c)  The department, in  coordination 
 consultation  with  the Department of Conservation,
 the Department of Resources Recycling and  Recovery
  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.
 To be eligible for a grant under the program, a project
shall do one or more of the following:  
   (1) Assist the state in meeting greenhouse gas emission goals.
 
   (2) Improve soil water retention and reduce irrigation demand.
 
   (3) Protect and enhance habitat, including the hydrological
function of watersheds.  
   (4) Improve the economic and ecological viability of working
lands.  
   (5) Improve rural community sustainability and health. 

   (6) Include local water agency participation.  
   (7) Comply with a regional climate action plan, if appropriate.
 
   (8) Address the nutrient pollution of surface water and
groundwater.  
   (9) Enhance the organic carbon content of the ecosystems of
working lands generally and the soils of working lands particularly,
as determined through a carbon farm planning or similar planning
process.  
   (10) Repurpose organic material waste streams for soil quality
enhancement or other beneficial reuse.  
   (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.