BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 761 Page 1 Date of Hearing: May 20, 2015 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Jimmy Gomez, Chair AB 761 (Levine) - As Amended April 21, 2015 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Natural Resources |Vote:|8 - 1 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | |Water, Parks and Wildlife | |13 - 2 | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No SUMMARY: This bill requires $50 million to be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) to establish a grant program for projects AB 761 Page 2 that increase carbon sequestration and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on working lands. Specifically, this bill: 1)Requires CDFA, in consultation with the Department of Conservation (DOC), CalRecyle, Air Resources Board (ARB), and the Department of Water Resources (DWR), to develop and adopt project solicitation and evaluation guidelines to implement the grant program. 2)Defines Working Lands as privately-owned agricultural lands, ranches, and rangelands. 3)Defines Carbon Farm Planning as a landscape-level conservation planning process designed to: 1) identify GHG emissions reduction, sequestration and mitigation opportunities on working lands; and 2) quantify those GHG benefits using the US Department of Agriculture's COMET-Planner, COMET-Farm, and other quantification tools. 4)Requires CDFA to quantify the benefits of each project funded and post the evaluation information on their Internet Web site. FISCAL EFFECT: 1)Cost pressures of $50 million (unspecified fund) to fund the grant program. 2)Increased initial and ongoing costs for CDFA, in the range of $2 million (unspecified fund) to develop and administer the program (based on a $50 million program). AB 761 Page 3 3)Absorbable costs for DOC, Cal Recycle, ARB and DWR. COMMENTS: 1)Purpose. According to the author, this bill will fund 15-20 pilot projects to expand the use of sustainable agricultural practices, including compost application, on rangelands and other agricultural lands. The author states research shows that these pilots are expected to increase soil carbon sequestration (reduce greenhouse gasses), improve soil water retention, and make agricultural land more resilient to climate change and drought. 2)Healthy Soils. Increased carbon is soils produces multiple benefits, including increased water holding capacity, increased crop yields and decreased sediment erosion. The Governor's May Revision proposes to spend $20 million from AB 32 cap and trade revenues (Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund) to fund demonstration projects that increase carbon in soils. The author may wish to align this bill with the Governor's proposal. Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Galehouse / APPR. / (916) 319-2081 AB 761 Page 4