Farmers and ranchers: solid waste cleanup: grants.

Existing law requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to establish a farm and ranch solid waste cleanup and abatement grant program for the purposes of cleaning up and abating the effects of illegally disposed solid waste. The program makes grants available to public entities and Native American tribes for these purposes. Existing law also creates the Farm and Ranch Solid Waste Cleanup and Abatement Account in the General Fund for expenditure by the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act, for purposes of the program. Existing law prohibits the sum of all funds transferred into the account from other funds or accounts from exceeding $1,000,000 annually. This bill would require the department to establish a pilot program, until January 1, 2028, that would make grants available to public entities and Native American tribes on behalf of applicants who are farmers and ranchers and for the purposes of the farm and ranch solid waste cleanup and abatement grant program, as described. The bill, until January 1, 2028, would make the $1,000,000 annual maximum amount of funds that may be transferred into the account inoperative and would prohibit moneys contributed to the farm and ranch solid waste cleanup and abatement grant program from specified sources from collectively exceeding $1,000,000 annually. The bill would require that any amount over $1,000,000 that is transferred into the account on an annual basis be available for the purposes of the pilot program, upon appropriation by the Legislature. The bill would authorize the department to provide for the deposit into the account of philanthropic and federal funding for the purposes of the pilot program, as provided.