Lois Wolk
- Democratic
Author
(1) 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, as specified. This bill instead would authorize, rather than require, the environmental farming program to provide incentives, including loans, grants, research, technical assistance, or educational materials and outreach, to farmers whose practices promote the well-being of ecosystems, air quality, and wildlife and their habitat, and reduce on-farm greenhouse gas emissions or increase carbon storage in agricultural soils and woody biomass, or both. The bill would rename the panel the Environmental Farming Science Advisory Panel and revise the panel's membership and duties, as specified. The bill would require the panel to provide a biennial report describing its work to the Legislature and the Governor, among others. The bill would provide that $25,000,000 shall be made available to the department, upon appropriation, from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to support projects to demonstrate agricultural management practices and activities that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase carbon storage in agricultural soils and woody biomass, as specified. The bill would require the department, in consultation with the panel, to develop and implement a grant program to carry out the purposes of the act and would require the State Air Resources Board, in consultation with the secretary and the panel, to consider and recommend, as appropriate, the use of available tools to demonstrate and quantify greenhouse gas emissions reductions from the grant program. (2) 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 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 from the auction or sale of allowances as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. Existing law continuously appropriates 20% of the annual proceeds of the fund to the Strategic Growth Council for the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program, as provided. This bill would require the council, no later than the 2015–16 fiscal year, to establish and administer a grant program, as part of the Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation Program established by the council in conjunction with the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program, to provide financial incentives for the adoption and use of land management practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, sequester carbon in soil and woody biomass, and provide other cobenefits on working agricultural operations, as specified. The bill would continuously appropriate 2% of the annual proceeds of the fund to the Strategic Growth Council to be expended for agricultural land protection consistent with the provisions of that grant program, thereby making an appropriation.
August 27 hearing: Held in committee and under submission.
Joint Rule 62(a) suspended.
August 26 set for first hearing. Placed on APPR. suspense file.
Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 8. Noes 1.) (July 13).
Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on NAT. RES.
From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on NAT. RES. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (July 1).
From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on AGRI.
In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk.
Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 35. Noes 3. Page 1288.) Ordered to the Assembly.
Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading.
From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 1152.) (May 28).
Set for hearing May 28.
May 18 hearing: Placed on APPR. suspense file.
Set for hearing May 18.
Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 857.) (April 29).
Set for hearing April 29.
Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on E.Q.
From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on E.Q. (Ayes 5. Noes 0. Page 508.) (April 7).
From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on AGRI.
Set for hearing April 7.
From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 27.
Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.
| Bill Text Versions | Format |
|---|---|
| SB367 | HTML |
| 02/24/15 - Introduced | |
| 04/06/15 - Amended Senate | |
| 04/13/15 - Amended Senate | |
| 05/06/15 - Amended Senate | |
| 06/02/15 - Amended Senate | |
| 06/24/15 - Amended Assembly | |
| 07/06/15 - Amended Assembly | |
| 08/17/15 - Amended Assembly |
| Document | Format |
|---|---|
| No related documents. |
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