BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 761
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Date of Hearing: April 13, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
Das Williams, Chair
AB 761
(Levine) - As Introduced February 25, 2015
SUBJECT: Carbon farm planning
SUMMARY: Declares that $50 million shall be available, upon
appropriation, to the Department of Conservation (DOC) to
establish a grant program to fund projects that increase carbon
sequestration in agricultural lands, ranches, and rangelands.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Creates the Division of Resource Conservation (Division)
within DOC and imposes powers and duties on the Division with
regard to resource conservation. Allows the Division to aid
Resource Conservation Districts in developing plans for
achieving their soil and water conservation objectives.
2)Requires, pursuant to the California Global Warming Solutions
Act (AB 32), the Air Resources Board (ARB) to adopt a
statewide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions limit equivalent to
1990 levels by 2020 and to adopt rules and regulations to
achieve maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective
GHG emission reductions.
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3)Requires the Strategic Growth Council (SGC) to develop and
administer the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities
Program to reduce GHG emissions through projects that
implement land use, housing, transportation, and agricultural
land preservation practices to support infill and compact
development and that support other related and coordinated
public policy objectives.
4)Continuously appropriates to the SGC 20% of the annual
proceeds of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF).
5)Phases in requirements for generators of specified amounts of
organic waste to arrange recycling services for the organic
waste material beginning January 1, 2016.
THIS BILL:
1)Defines "carbon farm planning" as a landscape-level
conservation planning process designed to identify GHG capture
and mitigation opportunities on working lands and prescribes
how to quantify those GHG benefits.
2)Declares that $50 million shall be available, upon
appropriation, to the DOC to establish a grant program to fund
projects that increase carbon sequestration on agricultural
lands, ranches, and rangelands.
3)Requires DOC in coordination with the Department of Resources,
Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) and the Department of
Water Resources (DWR) to develop and adopt project
solicitation and evaluation guidelines for the grant program.
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4)Requires projects to meet one or more of 10 conditions to be
eligible for the grant program. Some of the conditions include
projects that assist in the state meeting GHG goals, improve
soil water retention, and improve the economic and ecological
viability of working lands.
FISCAL EFFECT: At least $50 million from an unspecified source.
COMMENTS:
1)Author's statement.
AB 761 establishes a $50 million carbon farming grant
program to fund 15-20 pilot projects to expand the use
of sustainable agricultural practices, including
compost application, on rangelands and other
agricultural lands. Research shows that these pilots
are expected to increase soil carbon sequestration
(reduce greenhouse gasses), improve soil water
retention, and make agricultural land more resilient
to climate change and drought.
2)Is this just about compost? The Marin Carbon Project began
as a compost experiment seven years ago on a Marin County
ranch. This experiment uncovered a way to remove carbon
dioxide from the air through application of compost on
rangeland soil. The project hopes to turn the rangelands of
California into a tool to meet the state's GHG reduction
goals. These experiments on the grazing lands in Marin
County and the Sierra foothills of Yuba County by UC
Berkeley bio-geochemist Whendee Silver showed that a
one-time application of compost substantially boosted the
soil's carbon storage. The effect has persisted over six
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years, and Silver believes the carbon will remain stored for
at least several decades. Last year, the Governor signed AB
1826 (Chesbro), Chapter 727, Statutes of 2014, which
required generators of specified amounts of organic waste to
arrange recycling services for the organic waste material.
As the state diverts more organic waste from landfills, much
of the organic waste could be turned into compost. The Marin
Carbon Project with the help of UC Berkeley has demonstrated
the benefits of compost application on rangelands. Compost
can also be used on croplands and home gardens. The state
has a role in developing markets for compost and collecting
data on the benefits of it uses. The Governor's 2015-16
budget proposal unveiled a "Healthy Soils" initiative. The
proposal stated that:
?as the leading agricultural state in the nation, it
is important for California's soils to be sustainable
and resilient to climate change. Increased carbon in
soils is responsible for numerous benefits including
increased water holding capacity, increased crop
yields and decreased sediment erosion. In the upcoming
year, the Administration will work on several new
initiatives to increase carbon in soil and establish
long term goals for carbon levels in all California's
agricultural soils. CDFA will coordinate this
initiative under its existing authority provided by
the Environmental Farming Act.
AB 761 creates a grant program that will fund projects that
increase carbon in soils through compost application, yet
the supporters have identified other practices that they
wish be included in the grant program. These practices
include tillage management, nutrient management, windbreaks,
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specific plantings, habitat enhancement, and other improved
management practices, which they believe will increase
carbon sequestration and reduce GHG emissions. Therefore,
the grant program created by this bill will look for
projects on working lands that help the state meet its GHG
emission goals, but those projects will not be limited to
compost application and will not be limited to rangelands.
3)Working lands. According to ARB's May 2014 "First Update to
the Climate Change Scoping Plan" (scoping plan update),
"recent research has shown that GHG emissions from urban areas
are much greater than those from agricultural lands on a
per-acre basis." Also according to the scoping plan update
there are many GHG emission reduction and carbon sequestration
opportunities that could be realized in the agriculture
sector. The scoping plan update stated that restoration and
improved management practices on rangelands that increase
carbon storage should be incentivized. In the scoping plan
update, ARB combines rangelands with forestland and calls them
working lands. ARB categorizes all other agricultural
practices in a section on agriculture. AB 761, for purposes of
the grant program, combines rangeland and other agricultural
land together as working lands. This might be more appropriate
than separating one agricultural practice from all others.
The grant program would develop incentives to increase carbon
sequestration and reduce GHG emissions for all different types
of crop and livestock production and could help create
comparisons across the industry.
4)Carbon farm planning. The bill defines carbon farm planning
as a planning process that identifies GHG capture and
mitigation opportunities on working lands and quantifies those
benefits using the United States Department of Agriculture's
(USDA) COMET-Planner, COMET-Farm, and other quantification
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tools. These quantification tools were designed by the USDA in
partnership with Colorado State University to help enable
agricultural producers to calculate how much carbon their
conservation actions can remove from the atmosphere.
COMET-Planner and COMET-Farm are new tools and are currently
for voluntary reductions. It is unclear whether they will
mesh with how ARB will quantify reductions from carbon farm
planning. Information provided by the author states that
carbon farming improves carbon sequestration on agricultural
and rangelands while creating additional water, habitat, and
economic viability benefits for farmers and working land
managers. According to the author, many carbon farming
practices are not new, but if applied appropriately on
rangelands and croplands can significantly enhance carbon
sequestration in both vegetation and soils.
After the initial title and definition, AB 761 only uses the
term carbon farm planning again once in condition 9 of the 10
possible ways projects may qualify for grants. However,
condition 9 allows for similar planning processes that are not
carbon farm planning. While carbon farm planning is an
interesting concept, as currently drafted, it seems to serve
no real purpose for the bill. It might be more appropriate to
make the bill focused on GHG emission reductions and carbon
sequestration on working lands while prioritizing the
demonstration of carbon farm planning. The author and
Committee may wish to consider amending the bill to name the
Division Carbon Sequestration on Working Lands and prioritize
carbon farm planning for awarding project grants.
5)Department of Conservation. DOC has received funding from SGC
to administer the Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation
program, which protects agricultural land with easements, and
received funding from SGC to develop a program to assist with
management of agricultural land in ways to assist California
with meeting its GHG reduction goals. However, the author does
not believe DOC is the most appropriate agency to administer
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this grant program. The author believes the California
Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) would be the more
appropriate agency to administer this grant program. CDFA has
a single focus on working lands and is a member of the Climate
Action Team. If CDFA was the lead agency, AB 761 would be
consistent with recommendations in the scoping plan update
which stated, "CDFA will strengthen technical assistance
programs and associated financial incentives to help
agricultural operators develop carbon plans and implement GHG
emission reduction practices." The author and Committee may
wish to consider amending the bill to make CDFA the agency
with the lead role administering the grant program while
consulting with ARB, CalRecycle, DOC, and DWR.
6)Suggested Amendments. In addition to the other amendments
suggested above the author and committee may wish consider
amending the bill to:
a) Require each project to be on working lands and assist
the state in meeting its GHG emission reduction goals.
b) Require CDFA to prioritize projects with the greatest
level of benefits.
c) Reduce the number of benefits and changes the benefits
to more closely align with the intent of the bill.
d) Require CDFA to quantify the benefits of each project
awarded through the grant program and post the information
on their website.
7)Opposition. The Center for Biological Diversity opposes AB
761 because it believes the bill assumes that livestock
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rangelands are the best possible end use of compost and would
directly fund only livestock rangelands. However, the
definition of working lands includes all privately owned
agricultural lands. In addition, the committee amendments will
broaden the type of projects eligible beyond compost and
rangelands.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Audubon California
California Cattlemen's Association
California Trout
Carbon Cycle Institute
Environmental Action Committee of West Marin
Land Trust of Santa Cruz County
Peninsula Open Space Trust
Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority
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Opposition
Center for Biological Diversity (unless amended)
Analysis Prepared by:Michael Jarred / NAT. RES. / (916) 319-2092