Soil Conservation Fund.

Existing law establishes the California Land Conservation Act of 1965, otherwise known as the Williamson Act, and authorizes a city or county to enter into 10-year contracts with owners of land devoted to agricultural use, whereby the owners agree to continue using the property for that purpose, and the city or county agrees to value the land accordingly for purposes of property taxation, as specified. Existing law provides a procedure to cancel a contract entered into under these provisions, and provides that the landowner and the Department of Conservation may agree on the cancellation value of the land. Existing law requires cancellation fees, when they are required to be collected, to be transmitted by the county treasurer to the Controller and deposited in the General Fund, except the first $2,536,000 of revenue paid to the Controller in the 2004–05 fiscal year, and any amount approved in the final Budget Act for each fiscal year thereafter, is required to be deposited in the Soil Conservation Fund, and as otherwise specified. Existing law provides that the money in the Soil Conservation Fund is available, when appropriated by the Legislature, for specified programs and administrative costs. This bill would provide that the money in the Soil Conservation Fund is available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, additionally for competitive grants and financial assistance to resource conservation districts to aid in the implementation of state programs or projects that improve soil conservation, carbon sequestration in soil, or moisture retention in soil, or other types of projects that improve the quality of agricultural and related land resources, subject to a specified condition. The bill would require the Department of Conservation to establish this competitive grant program.