BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                    AB 2223


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          ASSEMBLY THIRD READING


          AB  
          2223 (Gray)


          As Amended  May 27, 2016


          2/3 vote


           ------------------------------------------------------------------ 
          |Committee       |Votes|Ayes                  |Noes                |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
          |Natural         |8-1  |Williams, Jones,      |Mark Stone          |
          |Resources       |     |                      |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |                |     |Cristina Garcia,      |                    |
          |                |     |Gomez, Hadley,        |                    |
          |                |     |Harper, McCarty, Wood |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
          |Agriculture     |10-0 |Dodd, Mathis, Eggman, |                    |
          |                |     |Gallagher, Gray,      |                    |
          |                |     |Grove, Irwin,         |                    |
          |                |     |Jones-Sawyer, Quirk,  |                    |
          |                |     |Salas                 |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
          |Appropriations  |20-0 |Gonzalez, Bigelow,    |                    |
          |                |     |Bloom, Bonilla,       |                    |
          |                |     |Bonta, Calderon,      |                    |
          |                |     |Chang, Daly, Eggman,  |                    |
          |                |     |Gallagher, Eduardo    |                    |








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          |                |     |Garcia, Roger         |                    |
          |                |     |Hernández, Holden,    |                    |
          |                |     |Jones, Obernolte,     |                    |
          |                |     |Quirk, Santiago,      |                    |
          |                |     |Wagner, Weber, Wood   |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
           ------------------------------------------------------------------ 


          SUMMARY:  Appropriates $10 million from the Greenhouse Gas  
          Reduction Fund (GGRF) to the California Department of Food and  
          Agriculture (CDFA) to fund loans for dairy digesters and other  
          dairy methane reduction projects and management practices.  




          FISCAL EFFECT:  According to the Assembly Appropriations  
          Committee, this bill appropriates a one-time expenditure of $10  
          million to CDFA to fund greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions  
          reductions at dairies.  Air Resources Board (ARB) costs are  
          within existing resources.  


          COMMENTS:  According to the author, ARB's strategy to improve  
          manure management calls for putting digesters on more than  
          several hundred dairies in the state.  Based on a CDFA estimate,  
          this bill is intended to provide the funding necessary to  
          support the development of a widespread manure management  
          infrastructure.


          Short-lived climate pollutants (SCLPs) are GHGs that remain in  
          the atmosphere for less time than carbon dioxide, but have a  
          much greater climate impact.  SLCPs include black carbon,  
          fluorinated gases, and methane, which is the primary GHG emitted  
          by dairies.  









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          According to ARB, methane is the principal component of natural  
          gas and is also produced biologically under anaerobic conditions  
          in ruminants, landfills, and waste handling.  While methane does  
          not linger in the atmosphere as long as carbon dioxide, it is  
          over 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide over the first 20  
          years.  ARB identifies dairies as the source of 35% of the  
          state's methane emissions and pinpoints a number of technologies  
          and processes that have the potential to greatly reduce dairy  
          methane emissions.  


          Dairy digesters are a renewable technology that uses livestock  
          manure to produce methane, which is a renewable source of  
          electrical energy generation and transportation fuel.  The  
          technology has many environmental and social benefits.  CDFA has  
          developed the Dairy Digester Research and Development (DDRD)  
          Program.  Eleven million dollars in competitive grant funding  
          has been, and an estimated $500,000 will be, made available for  
          research and demonstration projects that improve the economic  
          performance of dairy digesters in California.  Governor Brown's  
          2016-17 budget proposes $35 million for the DDRD Program.




          Analysis Prepared by:                                             
                          Elizabeth MacMillan / NAT. RES. / (916) 319-2092  
                                                                         
          FN: 0003342

















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