(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.
Sponsored bills
Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid Program provisions. Existing law provides that Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) services for any individual under 21 years of age is covered under Medi-Cal consistent with the requirements of federal law. Under federal law, EPSDT services include screening services, vision services, dental services, hearing services, and other necessary services to correct or ameliorate defects and physical and mental illnesses and conditions discovered by the screening services, whether or not the services are covered under the state plan. Existing federal law, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, requires that a free appropriate public education be made available to individuals with exceptional needs, and be tailored to their individual needs. This bill would require the State Department of Health Care Services and the Department of Education to convene a joint task force to examine the delivery of mental health services to children eligible for EPSDT services and for services pursuant to the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and to consider specified subjects. The bill would require the task force to hold at least 2 public meetings by October 1, 2016, and to submit a report to the Legislature covering key findings and recommendations for further action, if any.
The California Disaster Assistance Act generally provides that the state share for disaster project allocations to local agencies is no more than 75% of total state eligible costs, except for specified events for which the state share is up to 100% of state eligible costs. This bill would add the August 24, 2014, South Napa Earthquake to the list of events for which the state share of state eligible cost is up to 100%. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law establishes the State Coastal Conservancy and prescribes the membership and functions and duties of the conservancy with respect to preservation of coastal resources in the state. This bill would enact the Safe Water and Wildlife Protection Act of 2016, which would require the State Water Resources Control Board to establish and coordinate the Algal Bloom Task Force, comprised of specified representatives of state agencies, including the conservancy, in consultation with the Secretary for Environmental Protection, and would prescribe the functions and duties of the task force. The bill would require the task force to review the risks and negative impacts of toxic algal blooms and microcystin pollution and to submit a summary of its findings and recommendations to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature, the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, and the secretary on or before January 1, 2018. The act would require the task force, before providing funding recommendations or submitting a summary of findings, to notify the public about ongoing activities and provide opportunities for public review and comment on applied research, projects, and programs. The act would authorize the conservancy, the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Wildlife Conservation Board, and the State Water Resources Control Board to enter into contracts and provide grants, upon appropriation, from specified bond funds available under the Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2014 or from other appropriate funds for applied research, projects, and programs, recommended by the task force, aimed at preventing or sustainably mitigating toxic blooms of cyanotoxins and microcystin pollution in the waters of the state.
This measure would declare June 6, 2015, to June 14, 2015, inclusive, as the 2015 California Invasive Species Action Week and would urge all Californians to participate in activities that raise awareness of invasive species issues and to take action to prevent their spread.
This measure would commemorate the centennial of the founding of Locke, California, would recognize and honor Locke, California, as the last remaining Chinatown in North America, and would urge all Californians to learn about the important history of Locke, California, and its inhabitants.
This measure would congratulate the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls on the celebration of its 50th anniversary, and recognize and commend the commission for its various contributions and accomplishments.
This measure would urge the Congress of the United States to support H.R. 167, the federal Wildfire Disaster Funding Act, in order to provide a long-term, stable source of funding for federal agencies to conduct the necessary fuels management on national forest lands, while retaining resources to suppress catastrophic wildfires.
This measure would urge the Congress of the United States to enact legislation allowing immigrants to serve in the military if they are eligible under the President's Executive Order for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or Executive Order for Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents.
The Toxics in Packaging Prevention Act generally prohibits a manufacturer or supplier from offering for sale or for promotional purposes in this state a package or packaging component that includes intentionally introduced lead, mercury, cadmium, or hexavalent chromium in the package or in a packaging component. The act exempted from this prohibition, until January 1, 2010, a package or a packaging component if the manufacturer or supplier complied with specific documentation requirements and the package or packaging component did not contain any intentionally introduced lead, mercury, cadmium, or hexavalent chromium, but exceeded a specific maximum concentration level because of the addition of a recycled material. This bill would provide a similar exemption, until January 1, 2019, for a glass beverage, food, or drink container. The bill would require the Department of Toxic Substances Control to evaluate the packaging of glass beverage, food, and drink containers, as specified, to determine if lead, mercury, cadmium, or hexavalent chromium is present in glass beverage, food, or drink containers sold in California. If the department determines that these metals are present, the bill would require the department to also evaluate whether and under what circumstances those metals can leach from the glass containers into the food or beverage and whether the presence of the metals in the glass containers presents a risk to human health and the environment. The bill would authorize the department to request any information and collect any samples necessary for the evaluations from glass manufacturers or feedstock or raw material suppliers in the state that are subject to the act, and would require the department to provide the results of the evaluations to the Legislature by January 1, 2018. The bill would authorize the department to adopt regulations, pursuant to existing authority, based on these evaluations. The bill would authorize the department to seek reimbursement from the glass manufacturers and feedstock and raw material suppliers to cover the reasonable costs directly related to collecting glass samples, reviewing and processing those samples, analyzing the samples, disseminating certain information, and implementing any regulations that are developed as a result of the evaluations. The bill would delete obsolete provisions and would make conforming changes.