Amended in Assembly August 1, 2016

Amended in Assembly June 29, 2016

Amended in Senate May 2, 2016

Amended in Senate March 28, 2016

Senate Bill No. 1386

Introduced by Senator Wolk

(Coauthor: Senator Wieckowski)

(Coauthor: Assembly Member McCarty)

February 19, 2016

An act to add Section 9001.5 to the Public Resources Code, relating to resource conservation.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 1386, as amended, Wolk. Resource conservation: working and natural lands.

The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The act requires all state agencies to consider and implement strategies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

This bill would declare it to be the policy of the state that the protection and management of natural and working lands, as defined, is begin delete a key end delete begin insert an important end insert strategy in meeting the state’s greenhouse gas reduction goals, and would require all state agencies, departments, boards, and commissions to consider this policy when revising, adopting, or establishing policies, regulations, expenditures, or grant criteria relating to the protection and management of natural and working lands.

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) To address the critical issue of global warming, California
is working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The conservation
and management of natural and working lands has been identified
as a key strategy to meet greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals.

(b) Natural and working lands store considerable amounts of
carbon. Terrestrial ecosystems store 2,100 gigatons of carbon.
Natural and working lands are unique in that they can actively
remove carbon from the atmosphere and store or sequester that
carbon in, above, and below the ground.

(c) Promoting the conservation and management of natural and
working lands will result in a variety of outcomes that contribute
to carbon sequestration, including, but not limited to, conservation
and agricultural easements on natural and working lands, no- or
low-till agriculture, cover cropping on agricultural lands, the
restoration of degraded lands, including the restoration of
vegetation, and agency decisions that avoid the loss of natural and
working lands.

(d) The conservation and management of natural and working
lands to promote carbon sequestration will also deliver important
additional public benefits, including, but not limited to, the
protection and enhancement of wildlife habitat, parks and open
spaces, and recreational and economic opportunities, the production
of food and fiber, the improvement of air and water quality, and
flood protection.

SEC. 2.  

Section 9001.5 is added to the Public Resources Code,
to read:

9001.5.  

(a) It is the policy of the state that the protection and
management of natural and working lands is begin delete a key end delete begin insert an important end insert
strategy in meeting the state’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction
goals. The protection and management of those lands can result
in the removal of carbon from the atmosphere and the sequestration
of carbon in, above, and below the ground.

(b) The protection and management of natural and working
lands provides multiple public benefits, including, but not limited
to, assisting with adaptation to the impacts of climate change,
improving water quality and quantity, flood protection, ensuring
healthy fish and wildlife populations, and providing recreational
and economic benefits.

(c) All state agencies, including, but not limited to, the Natural
Resources Agency, the Department of Food and Agriculture, and
the California Environmental Protection Agency, and their
respective departments, boards, and commissions, shall consider
the policy set forth in this section when revising, adopting, or
establishing policies, regulations, expenditures, or grant criteria
relating to the protection and management of natural and working
lands. begin insert State agencies shall implement this requirement in
conjunction with the state’s other strategies to meet its greenhouse
gas emissions reduction goals and with the intent to, among other
things, promote the cooperation of owners of natural and working
lands. end insert

(d) For purposes of this section, the following terms have the
following meanings:

(1) “Working lands” means lands used for farming, grazing, or
the production of forest products.

(2) “Natural lands” means lands consisting of forests, grasslands,
deserts, freshwater and riparian systems, wetlands, coastal and
estuarine areas, watersheds, wildlands, or wildlife habitat, or lands
used for recreational purposes such as parks, urban and community
forests, trails, greenbelts, and other begin insert similar end insert open-space land. For
purposes of this paragraph, “parks” includes, but is not limited to,
areas that provide public green space.

begin insert

(e) Nothing in this section shall affect the existing authority of
a city, county, city and county, state agency, department,
commission, or board relating to natural and working lands.

end insert