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(additional notes provided by Nerds For Earth)
SB 859, Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review
Public resources: greenhouse gas emissions and biomass.
California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006
The Act designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of greenhouse gas emissions. The Act authorizes the state board to include the use of market-based compliance mechanisms. Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the state board as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and to be available upon appropriation. Existing law requires the Department of Finance, in consultation with the state board and any other relevant state agency, to develop a 3-year investment plan for the moneys deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. The moneys must be allocated for the purpose of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the state and satisfying other purposes, where applicable and to the extent feasible, and authorizes specified investments if the investment furthers the regulatory purposes of the act and is consistent with law.
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. The Act requires the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to convene a 5-member Scientific Advisory Panel on Environmental Farming, for the purpose of providing advice and assistance to federal, state, and local government agencies on issues relating to air, water, and wildlife habitat. Existing law authorizes the panel to establish ad hoc committees to assist the panel in performing its functions.
This bill would increase the number of members on the panel from 5 to 9 and would require that the secretary appoint 5 instead of 3 of these members, the Secretary for Environmental Protection appoint 2 instead of 1, and the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency appoint 2 instead of 1. The bill would additionally allow the secretary to appoint, in consultation with the panel, ex officio nonvoting members to the panel. The bill would add representatives of nongovernmental entities to persons who may be on the ad hoc committees.
This bill would require the State Air Resources Board to consult with the Secretary of Food and Agriculture and the panel in developing the quantification methods to demonstrate and quantify on-farm greenhouse gas emissions reductions.
This bill would require the Department of Food and Agriculture, in consultation with the panel, to establish and oversee a Healthy Soils Program to seek to optimize climate benefits while supporting the economic viability of California agriculture by providing incentives, including loans, grants, research, and technical assistance, or educational materials and outreach, to farmers whose management practices contribute to healthy soils and result in net long-term on-farm greenhouse gas benefits. The bill would authorize the program to include funding of on-farm demonstration projects and, if the funding of those projects is included, would require the department to establish a technical advisory committee to review the project applications for scientific validity and the project’s potential to achieve greenhouse gas benefits. The bill would require the department to implement the program and quantify greenhouse gas emissions reductions in accordance with the quantification methods developed by the State Air Resources Board and specified funding guidelines.
This bill would require the Department of Food and Agriculture, prior to awarding grant funds from moneys from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, to review the applicant analysis identifying potential adverse impacts of a proposed project. The bill would prohibit a project from receiving funding from the department unless the applicant has made certain demonstrations to the department. The bill would require the department to prioritize projects based on the criteria pollutant emission benefits achieved by the project.
Existing law requires the California Environmental Protection Agency to identify disadvantaged communities and requires the Department of Finance, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board and any other relevant state agency, to develop a 3-year investment plan for the moneys deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.
This bill would additionally require moneys in the fund, where applicable and to the extent feasible, to be allocated to provide opportunities for Native American tribes in the state to participate in and benefit from statewide efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The bill also would additionally authorize moneys in the fund to be allocated to fund investments in programs implemented by Native American tribes in the state if the investments further the regulatory purposes of the act and are consistent with law.
This bill would require the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to support the development of sustainable communities by managing and awarding financial assistance for the preparation and implementation of specified green infrastructure projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provide multiple benefits to specified entities. The bill would authorize moneys from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, upon appropriation, to be available for allocation by the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency for the purposes of awarding the financial assistance. The bill would require the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to allocate at least 75% of the moneys to projects in disadvantaged communities, as specified. The bill would exempt the development and adoption of guidelines and selection criteria from the Administrative Procedure Act.
This bill would require the State Air Resources Board, no later than December 30, 2018, in consultation with the Natural Resources Agency and the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, to complete a standardized greenhouse gas emissions inventory and, by December 30, 2018, to complete a standardized accounting framework that supports statewide greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals and investments of moneys from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.
This bill would find and declare that a diversity of dairy methane management practices, including anaerobic digesters and nondigester dairy methane management strategies, can effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Air Quality Improvement Program
Existing law establishes the Air Quality Improvement Program, administered by the State Air Resources Board, for the purposes of funding projects related to the reduction of criteria air pollutants and the improvement of air quality. The state board has established the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project, as part of the Air Quality Improvement Program, to promote the production and use of zero-emission vehicles by providing rebates for the purchase of new zero-emission vehicles. The Charge Ahead California Initiative requires the State Air Resources Board to adopt, no later than June 30, 2015, revisions to the criteria and other requirements for the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project to limit eligibility based on income.
This bill would, between November 1, 2016, and July 1, 2017, require the State Air Resources Board, for the purposes of the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project, to offer rebates only to applicants who purchase an eligible vehicle and have a specified maximum gross annual income; increase rebate payments by $500 for low-income applicants; and prioritize rebate payments for low-income applicants.
Forest Resource Improvement Projects
Existing law authorizes the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to enter into agreements and make loans for various forest resource improvement projects to improve the timber productivity of forest lands in the state and to improve all forest resources and the total forest resource system.
This bill would additionally authorize the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to provide grants to, or enter into contracts or other cooperative agreements with, private or nongovernmental entities, Native American tribes, or local, state, and federal public agencies for the implementation and administration of projects and programs to improve forest health and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The bill would require any such project or program funded with moneys from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to comply with all statutory and program requirements applicable to the use of moneys from that fund. This bill would require the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to allocate funding to specified landscape-scale projects.
CalRecycle Greenhouse Gas Reduction Revolving Loan Program
Existing law establishes the CalRecycle Greenhouse Gas Reduction Revolving Loan Program, administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle), to provide loans to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases by promoting in-state development of infrastructure to process organic and other recyclable materials into new value-added products. Existing law requires CalRecycle to administer a grant program to provide financial assistance, in the form of grants, incentive payments, contracts, or other funding mechanisms, to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases by promoting in-state development of infrastructure to process organics and other recyclable materials into new value-added products.
This bill would revise the two programs described above to expand the projects eligible for financial assistance under those programs to other projects to reduce organic waste.