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 wouldbegin delete declare that $50,000,000 shall be available, upon appropriation, toend deletebegin insert requireend insert thebegin delete departmentend deletebegin insert department, upon an appropriation of moneys therefor,end insert 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:
The Legislature finds and declares all of the
2following:
3(a) Robust, peer-reviewed, published data strongly support the
4hypothesis that soil and vegetation management can significantly
5enhance soil carbon sequestration, resulting in a wide range of
6environmental and agricultural cobenefits, including increased
7water retention in soils; improved water quality, soil health, and
8forage quantity and quality; reductions in greenhouse gases; and
9climate adaptation and resilience.
10(b) Numerous soil and vegetation management strategies exist
11and can be employed on farms, ranches, and working lands to
12sequester significant amounts of carbon in agricultural soils and
13vegetation,
thus playing an important role in helping the state meet
14its 2020 goal in the California Global Warming Solutions Act of
152006 (Division 25.5 (commencing with Section 38500) of the
16Health and Safety Code) and 2050 goal in Executive Order S-3-05
17for climate change mitigation and greenhouse gas reduction. These
18management strategies include, but are not limited to, climate
19beneficial practices, such as riparian restoration, prescribed grazing,
20windbreaks, and compost application.
21(c) California’s agricultural lands and rangelands account for
22nearly 50 percent of the state’s land area, and hold the potential
23to sequester millions of metric tons of carbon, resulting in enhanced
24agricultural production and increased resilience to climate change
25and drought.
Division 10.1 (commencing with Section 10100) is
27added to the Public Resources Code, to read:
28
For purposes of this division, the following terms have
33the following meanings:
34(a) “Carbonbegin delete farm planning” means a landscape-level begin insert farming” means implementing a land management
35conservation planning process designed to identify greenhouse
P3 1gas emissions reduction and sequestration and mitigation
2opportunitiesend delete
3strategy for the purposes of reducing, sequestering, and mitigating
4greenhouse gas emissionsend insert on working lands andbegin delete to quantifyend delete
5begin insert
quantifyingend insert those greenhouse gas benefits using the United States
6Department of Agriculture’s COMET-Planner, COMET-Farm,
7and other quantification tools.
8(b) “Department” means the Department of Food and
9Agriculture.
10(c) “Working lands” meansbegin delete privately-ownedend deletebegin insert privately ownedend insert
11 agricultural lands, ranches, and rangelands.
(a) begin deleteThe sum of fifty million dollars ($50,000,000) shall begin insertUpon an
13be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to end delete
14appropriation of moneys for the purposes of implementing this
15division, end insertthe departmentbegin delete toend deletebegin insert shallend insert establish a grant program to fund
16voluntary projects that increase carbon sequestration and
17greenhouse gas emissions reductions on working lands consistent
18with subdivision (b).
19(b) (1) A project shall be eligible for funding pursuant to this
20division if both of the following criteria are met:
21(A) Is located on working lands.
22(B) Assists the state in meeting its greenhouse gas emissions
23reduction goals.
24(2) The department shall prioritize funding for projects pursuant
25to this division that provide the greatest level of the following
26benefits:
27(A) Demonstrate carbonbegin delete farm planning.end deletebegin insert farming.end insert
28(B) Sequester carbon in agricultural soils.
begin insert
29(C) Achieve related cobenefits, including, but not limited to,
30any of the following:
31(C) Reduce
end delete32begin insert(i)end insertbegin insert end insertbegin insertReducedend insert irrigation demand.
33(D) Increase yield and productivity
end delete
34begin insert(ii)end insertbegin insert end insertbegin insertIncreased yield, productivity, and resilienceend insert on working
35lands.
36(E) Enhance
end delete37begin insert(iii)end insertbegin insert end insertbegin insertEnhancedend insert habitat.
38(F) Reduce
end delete39begin insert(iv)end insertbegin insert end insertbegin insertReducedend insert water quality impacts from agricultural lands.
begin insert40(v) Enhanced soil structure.
end insertbegin insertP4 1(vi) Protected and enhanced biodiversity.
end insertbegin insert2(vii) Increased soil water-holding capacity.
end insert
3(c) The department, in consultation with the Department of
4Conservation, the Department of Resources Recycling and
5Recovery, the State Air Resources Board, and the Department of
6Water Resources, shall develop and adopt project solicitation and
7evaluation guidelines to implement this division.
8(d) The department shall quantify the benefits of each project
9funded pursuant to this division and shall post that
information on
10the department’s Internet Web site.
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