BILL NUMBER: AB 761	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


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 introduced, Levine. Carbon farm planning.
   Existing law creates the Department of Conservation and imposes
powers and duties on the department with regard to resource
conservation.
   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 working
lands to climate change and drought. The bill would require the
department, in coordination with the Department of Resources
Recycling and Recovery 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 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


   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 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.
   (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.
   (b) The department, in coordination with the Department of
Resources Recycling and Recovery 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.