BILL NUMBER: SB 1350 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 10, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Senator Wolk
FEBRUARY 19, 2016
An act to amend Section 568 of, and to add Sections 562 and 569
to, the Food and Agricultural Code, relating to agriculture.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1350, as amended, Wolk. Agricultural lands: greenhouse gases:
Healthy Soils Program.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the
State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with
monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases.
The act authorizes the state board to include in its regulations the
use of market-based compliance mechanisms. Existing law requires all
moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the State Air
Resources Board from the auction or sale of allowances as part of a
market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse
Gas Reduction Fund and to be available upon appropriation by the
Legislature. Existing law requires the State Air Resources Board to
develop guidance on reporting and quantification methods for state
agencies receiving an appropriation from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction
Fund.
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. The act requires the
Secretary of Food and Agriculture to convene a 5-member Scientific
Advisory Panel on Environmental Farming, as prescribed, for the
purpose of providing advice and assistance to federal, state, and
local government agencies on issues relating to air, water, and
wildlife habitat, as specified. Existing law authorizes the
panel to establish ad hoc committees to assist the panel in
performing its functions.
This bill would change the number of members on the panel from 5
to 7 members and would require that the secretary appoint 5
members, 5 instead of 3,
3 of these members. The bill would require that, of
the members appointed by the secretary, at least 2 members, instead
of one, have a minimum of 5 years of training and experience in the
field of agriculture, and at least one member have training and
experience in on-farm management practices that reduce greenhouse gas
emissions, sequester carbon, or both. members, as
prescribed. The bill would additionally allow the secretary to
appoint, in consultation with the panel, ex officio non
voting members to the panel. The bill would add representatives of
nongovernmental entities to persons who may be on the ad hoc
committees.
The bill would require the State Air Resources Board to consult
with the Secretary of Food and Agriculture and the panel in
developing the quantification methods to demonstrate and quantify
on-farm greenhouse gas emissions reductions.
The bill would require the Department of Food and Agriculture, in
consultation with the panel, to establish and oversee a Healthy
Soils Program to provide to seek to optimize
climate benefits while supporting the economic viability of
California agriculture by providing incentives, including
loans, grants, research, and technical assistance, or educational
materials and outreach, to farmers whose management practices
contribute to healthful healthy soils
and result in net long-term on-farm greenhouse gas benefits. The
bill would authorize the program to include funding of on-farm
demonstration projects and, if the funding of those projects is
included, would require the department to establish a technical
advisory committee to review the project applications for scientific
validity and the project's potential to achieve greenhouse gas
benefits. The bill would require the department to implement
the program and quantify greenhouse gas emissions reductions in
accordance with the quantification methods developed by the State Air
Resources Board and specified funding guidelines. The bill
would make $20,000,000 available, upon appropriation by the
Legislature, from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to the department
to support the Healthy Soils Program.
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. Section 562 is added to the Food and Agricultural Code,
to read:
562. (a) The Legislature further finds and declares all of the
following:
(1) California's agricultural output is larger and more diverse
than any state in the United States, providing the majority of the
country's fruits, vegetables, nuts, and dairy products. California's
agricultural lands and rangelands account for nearly 50 percent of
the state's land area.
(2) Dependent on land and natural resources, California
agriculture is uniquely vulnerable to climate change, which poses a
serious threat to California agriculture with rising temperatures,
increases in extreme weather events, constrained water resources,
reduced winter chilling hours, and rising sea levels.
(3) California agriculture also is uniquely positioned to provide
climate benefits by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Research
funded by the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development
Commission's Public Interest Energy Research program
Research, Demonstration, and Development Program
finds that some agricultural practices will not only reduce
greenhouse gas emissions, but they also may help to store carbon in
soils and trees. Carbon storage is an important strategy to help meet
the state's greenhouse gas emissions targets. In addition,
California's agricultural lands and rangelands hold the potential to
sequester millions of metric tons of carbon, resulting in enhanced
agricultural production and increased resilience to climate change
and drought.
(4) Robust, Numerous peer-reviewed,
published data strongly support the hypothesis
have found that climate smart agriculture, including
on-farm and ranch soil and vegetation management
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.
(5) Steps taken by those working in California agriculture to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions and sequester atmospheric carbon can
provide other important environmental cobenefits, such as improved
air and water quality, water conservation, enhanced wildlife habitat,
and healthier rural communities.
(b) It is, therefore, the intent of the Legislature to enhance the
long-term viability of California agriculture by supporting
activities that reduce climate change impacts that may negatively
impact it and the rest of the state.
(c) It is further the intent of the Legislature that the
department, pursuant to this article, support the state's
agricultural sector in pursuing on-farm practices and activities that
reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase carbon storage in
agricultural soils and woody biomass.
SEC. 2. Section 568 of the Food and Agricultural Code is amended
to read:
568. (a) The secretary shall convene a seven-member Scientific
Advisory Panel on Environmental Farming to advise and assist federal,
state, and local government agencies on issues relating to air,
water, and wildlife habitat to do all of the following:
(1) Review data on the impact that agriculture has on the
environment and recommend to appropriate state agencies data that the
panel approves as scientifically valid. A state agency that receives
data recommended by the panel may adopt and incorporate the data
into the appropriate program. If a state agency does not utilize the
data recommended by the panel, it shall provide the panel with a
written statement of reasons for not utilizing the data. The reasons,
at a minimum, shall specify the scientific basis for not utilizing
the data. The reasons shall be provided within 180 days of receiving
the data from the panel.
(2) Compile the net environmental impacts that agriculture creates
for the environment, identified pursuant to paragraph (1).
(3) Research, review, and comment on data upon which proposed
environmental policies and regulatory programs are based to ensure
that the environmental impacts of agricultural activities are
accurately portrayed and to identify incentives that may be provided
to encourage agricultural practices with environmental benefits.
(4) Assist government agencies to incorporate benefits identified
pursuant to paragraph (1) into environmental regulatory programs.
(b) (1) Members of the panel shall be highly
qualified and professionally active or engaged in the conduct of
scientific research. Of the members first appointed to the panel, two
shall serve for a term of two years and three shall serve for a term
of three years, as determined by lot. Thereafter, members shall be
appointed for a term of three years. The members shall be appointed
as follows:
(1)
(A) Five members shall be appointed by the
secretary. At least two of these members shall
secretary as follows:
(i) At least two members
shall have a minimum of five years of training and
experience in the field of agriculture and shall represent production
agriculture. At least one of the five members
shall
(ii) At least one member shall
have training and field experience in on-farm management
practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, sequester carbon, or
both.
(iii) At least one member shall be certified as a producer
pursuant to the federal Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 (7
U.S.C. Sec. 6501 et seq.).
(iv) At least one member shall have technical expertise in
agricultural conservation planning and management.
(2)
(B) One member, who has a minimum of five years of
training and experience in the field of human health or environmental
science, shall be appointed by the Secretary for Environmental
Protection.
(3)
(C) One member, who has a minimum of five years of
training and experience in the field of resource management, shall be
appointed by the Secretary of the Natural Resources
Agency.
(2) The secretary may also appoint, in consultation with the
panel, ex officio nonvoting members to the panel.
(c) The panel may establish ad hoc committees, which may include
professionals or professionals,
scientists, or representatives of nongovernmental entities,
to assist it in performing its functions.
(d) The panel shall be created and maintained with funds made
available from existing resources within the department to the extent
they are available.
(e) The State Air Resources Board shall consult with the secretary
and the panel, as appropriate, in developing the quantification
methods described in subdivision (b) of Section 16428.9 of the
Government Code as it relates to the demonstration and quantification
of on-farm greenhouse gas emissions reductions.
SEC. 3. Section 569 is added to the Food and Agricultural Code, to
read:
569. (a) (1) The department, in
consultation with the panel, shall establish and oversee a Healthy
Soils Program. The program shall provide seek
to optimize climate benefits while supporting the economic viability
of California agriculture by providing incentives, including,
but not limited to, loans, grants, research, and technical
assistance, and educational materials and outreach, to farmers whose
management practices contribute to healthful
healthy soils and result in net long-term on-farm greenhouse
gas benefits. The program may also include the funding of on-farm
demonstration projects that further the goals of the program.
(2) The department, in consultation with the panel, may determine
priorities for the program and give priority to projects that occur
in and benefit disadvantaged communities identified pursuant to
Section 39711 of the Health and Safety Code, show promise of being
replicable in other parts of the state, or provide environmental and
agronomic cobenefits, such as improved air and water quality,
improved crop yield, and reduced soil erosion.
(3) The panel may also advise the department on scientific
findings, program framework, guidelines, grower incentives, and
providing technical assistance.
(4) If the department elects to fund on-farm demonstration
projects described in paragraph (1), the department, in consultation
with the panel, shall establish a technical advisory committee to
review on-farm demonstration project applications for scientific
validity and the proposed project's potential to achieve greenhouse
gas benefits.
(b) The department shall implement the program and quantify
greenhouse gas emissions reductions in accordance with the funding
guidelines developed by the State Air Resources Board pursuant to
Section 39715 of the Health and Safety Code and the quantification
methods developed by the State Air Resources Board pursuant to
Section 16428.9 of the Government Code.
(c) (1) The sum of twenty million dollars ($20,000,000) shall be
made available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, from the
Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to the department to support the
Healthy Soils Program.
(2)
(c) (1) The department may
also pursue other public and
private sources to support the Healthy Soils Program.
(2) To the extent funds are available, the department may provide
support to the program, including, but not limited to, technical
assistance, education, and outreach.
(d) For purposes of this section, "panel" means the Scientific
Advisory Panel on Environmental Farming.
(e) For purposes of the Healthy Soils Program, the following terms
have the following meanings:
(1) "Greenhouse gas benefits" means greenhouse gas emissions
source reduction or carbon sequestration.
(2) "Healthy soils" means soils that enhance their continuing
capacity to function as a biological system, increase soil organic
matter, improve soil structure and water- and nutrient-holding
capacity, and result in net long-term greenhouse gas benefits.
(3) "On-farm demonstration projects" means projects that
incorporate farm management practices that result in greenhouse gas
benefits across all farming types with the intent to establish or
promote healthy soils.