BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 367 (Wolk) - Agricultural lands: greenhouse gases
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|Version: May 6, 2015 |Policy Vote: AGRI. 5 - 0, E.Q. |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: May 18, 2015 |Consultant: Robert Ingenito |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: SB 367 would (1) recast and expand the membership and
the duties of the California Department of Food and
Agriculture's (CDFA's) Science Advisory Panel on Environmental
Farming to include on-farm practices to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions, and (2) specify $50 million, upon appropriation from
the Legislature, from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF)
to CDFA to support these activities.
Fiscal Impact:
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The bill would specify $50 million, upon appropriation
by the Legislature, from GGRF (special fund) to fund
programs that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase
carbon storage on farms. In addition, two percent of the 20
percent of GGRF revenues being continuously appropriated to
the Strategic Growth Council would be dedicated for
agricultural land preservation. Overall, GGRF would fund
the following administrative costs:
o CDFA indicates that it would incur annual
costs of $2 million to administer the program.
o The California Air Resources Board (ARB)
indicates that it would incur costs of $1.7 million in
2016-17, $1.5 million in 2017-18, and $1.1 million
ongoing to collaborate with CDFA and the Strategic
Growth Council, as specified.
o Costs to the Department of Conservation are
unknown but likely of similar magnitude to implement
the Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation
program.
The Cannella Environmental Farming Act of 1995 requires CDFA to
establish and oversee an environmental farming program that
provides incentives to farmers whose practices promote the
well-being of ecosystems, air quality, and wildlife and their
habitat. The act also created the Scientific Advisory Panel on
Environmental Farming (Panel) to, among other responsibilities,
advise and assist government agencies on these issues by
conducting scientific data reviews and approving and
recommending scientifically valid data. The Panel is also
authorized to research, review, and comment on data used as the
base for proposed environmental policies and regulatory programs
so that agricultural activities are accurately portrayed and to
identify incentives to encourage agricultural practices with
environmental benefits.
The Strategic Growth Council was created in 2008 as a
cabinet-level committee that is tasked with coordinating the
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activities of specified state agencies to improve air and water
quality, protect natural resources and agricultural lands,
increase the availability of affordable housing, promote public
health, improve transportation, encourage greater infill and
compact development, revitalize community and urban centers, and
assist state and local entities in the planning of sustainable
communities and meeting AB 32 goals. Strategic Growth Council
members include representatives from the Business, Consumer
Services and Housing, Natural Resources, Health and Human
Services, and Environmental Protection Agencies; the departments
of Transportation and Food and Agriculture; the Governor's
Office of Planning and Research; and three public members.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (referred to
as AB 32, HSC §38500 et seq.) requires ARB to determine the 1990
statewide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions level, to approve a
statewide GHG emissions limit equivalent to that level that will
be achieved by 2020, and to adopt GHG emissions reductions
measures by regulation. ARB is authorized to include the use of
market-based mechanisms to comply with the regulations. All
monies, except for fines and penalties, collected pursuant to a
market-based mechanism are deposited in the GGRF.
Current law requires that the GGRF only be used to facilitate
the achievement of reductions of GHG emissions consistent with
AB 32 (HSC §39710 et seq.). To this end, the Department of
Finance, in consultation with the ARB and any other relevant
state agencies, is required to develop, as specified, a
three-year investment plan for the moneys deposited in the GGRF.
The investment plan must allocate a minimum of 25 percent of the
funds to projects that benefit disadvantaged communities and to
allocate 10 percent of the funds to projects located within
disadvantaged communities. Additionally, ARB, in consultation
with CalEPA, is required to develop funding guidelines for
administering agencies receiving allocations of GGRF funds that
include a component for how agencies should maximize benefits to
disadvantaged communities.
The Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program
(AHSC), administered by the Strategic Growth Council, was
created in 2014 to reduce GHG emissions though projects that
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implement land use, housing, transportation, and agricultural
land preservation practices. The AHSC program receives 20
percent of the annual proceeds from GGRF to achieve these goals.
The Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation Program (SALC)
is one component of the AHSC and is implemented by the
California Department of Conservation (DOC). The Strategic
Growth Council is responsible for overseeing SALC and
coordinating DOC with other agencies to develop program
guidelines.
Guidelines for the SALC program were approved by the Strategic
Growth Council on January 20, 2015, and include three major
elements: (1) sustainable agricultural land strategy plans,
which would provide grants to develop local strategies to ensure
long-term protection of highly productive and critically
threatened agricultural land, (2) agricultural conservation
easements, and (3) financial incentives for adoption and use of
land management practices. The guidelines specifically state
that the third element is not included in the 2014 request for
grant applications, but will be addressed in future years.
Proposed Law:
This bill would do all of the following:
Specify that the Environmental Farming Program (EFP)
established by the CDFA also provide low-interest loans,
technical assistance, educational materials and outreach, or a
combination of these things, to farmers whose practices
promote the well-being of ecosystems, air quality and wildlife
and their habitat, and that reduce greenhouse gas emissions,
or increase carbon storage in agricultural soils and woody
biomass.
Authorize CDFA to provide support through the program that may
include, but is not limited to, permit assistance and
coordination and the funding of on-farm demonstration projects
to further the goals of the program.
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Rename the Panel as the Environmental Farming Advisory Panel,
and make specified modifications.
Require the Panel to review and recommend to the Secretary and
relevant state agencies the appropriate uses of available
tools to demonstrate and quantify greenhouse gas emission
reductions.
Require the Panel to submit a biennial report on their work,
the Panel's action plan for the next two years, and requires
the first report to occur no later than two years after the
Panel's first meeting or January 1, 2019, whichever occurs
first.
Specify $50 million from the GGRF, upon appropriation by the
Legislature, to be available to the department to support
on-farm projects to demonstrate agricultural management
practices and activities that reduce greenhouse gas emissions
and increase carbon storage in agricultural soils and woody
biomass, including:
o Soil-building and carbon sequestration practices;
o Irrigation efficiency and water conservation
measures;
o On-farm alternative energy production and energy
efficiency;
o Wildlife habitat conservation.
Require CDFA, in consultation with the Panel, to develop and
implement a grant program to implement the above projects and
carry out the purposes of the Cannella Environmental Farming
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Act.
Require SGC, in consultation with CDFA and the Panel, to
establish and administer a grant program as part of SALC, to
provide financial incentives for the adoption and use of land
management practices that reduce GHGs, sequester carbon, and
provide other cobenefits on working agricultural operations.
Specify that no less than two percent annually of GGRF monies
be continuously appropriated for agricultural land protection,
as a part of SGC's Affordable Housing and Sustainable
Communities Program.
Related
Legislation: AB 761 (Levine), currently in the Assembly
Committee on Natural Resources, would provide $50 million to the
Department of Conservation to establish a grant program to fund
projects that increase carbon sequestration in agricultural
soils to increase the resilience of working lands to climate
change and drought.
Staff
Comments: As noted above, the bill would specify that no less
than two percent annually of GGRF monies be continuously
appropriated for agricultural land protection, as a part of
SGC's Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program.
Staff notes that, mathematically speaking, two percent of twenty
percent (the overall amount of the allocation) equals 0.4
percent. It is unclear if the author's intent is this amount, or
two percentage points, be used for agricultural land protection.
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