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<ns0:Id>20250AB__218499INT</ns0:Id>
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<ns0:Action>
<ns0:ActionText>INTRODUCED</ns0:ActionText>
<ns0:ActionDate>2026-02-19</ns0:ActionDate>
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<ns0:SessionYear>2025</ns0:SessionYear>
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<ns0:AuthorText authorType="LEAD_AUTHOR">Introduced by Assembly Member Wilson</ns0:AuthorText>
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<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>LEAD_AUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>ASSEMBLY</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Wilson</ns0:Name>
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<ns0:Title> An act relating to climate solutions, and making an appropriation therefor. </ns0:Title>
<ns0:RelatingClause>climate solutions, and making an appropriation therefor</ns0:RelatingClause>
<ns0:GeneralSubject>
<ns0:Subject>Cap-and-Invest Program: nature-based climate solutions: funding.</ns0:Subject>
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<html:p>The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 requires the State Air Resources Board to adopt regulations for greenhouse gas emissions limits and emissions reduction measures to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in furtherance of achieving the statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit, as defined. The act authorizes that state board to include in those regulations the use of a market-based compliance mechanism, known as the California Cap-and-Invest Program, to comply with those regulations. Existing law requires moneys collected by the state board from the auction or sale of allowances as part of the California Cap-and-Invest Program to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and continuously appropriates a portion of the moneys in the fund for various purposes.</html:p>
<html:p>Existing law requires the Natural Resources Agency, in collaboration with the state board, the California Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Food and Agriculture, an expert advisory committee established, as provided, and other relevant state agencies, to determine an ambitious range of targets for natural carbon sequestration, and for nature-based climate solutions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions for 2030, 2038, and 2045 to support state goals to achieve carbon neutrality and foster climate adaptation and resilience. Existing law defines “nature-based climate solutions” for these purposes to mean activities, such as restoration, conservation, and land management actions, that increase net carbon sequestration or reduce greenhouse gas emissions in natural and working lands.</html:p>
<html:p>This bill would annually appropriate up to $300,000,000 from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund in the annual Budget Act each fiscal year
from the 2027–2028 to the 2045–46 fiscal year, inclusive, to achieve nature-based climate solutions, including $150,000,000 to be allocated to the Natural Resources Agency to fund nature-based climate solutions, not less than $50,000,000 to be allocated to the Department of Food and Agriculture to fund nature-based climate solutions in croplands and grasslands, and the remaining amount to be allocated for nature-based climate solutions at the discretion of the Legislature.</html:p>
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<ns0:VoteRequired>TWO_THIRDS</ns0:VoteRequired>
<ns0:Appropriation>YES</ns0:Appropriation>
<ns0:FiscalCommittee>YES</ns0:FiscalCommittee>
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<ns0:Preamble>The people of the State of California do enact as follows:</ns0:Preamble>
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<ns0:Num>SECTION 1.</ns0:Num>
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<html:p>The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:</html:p>
<html:p>
(a)
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Assembly Bill 1757 of the 2021–22 Regular Session (Chapter 341 of the Statutes of 2022) (AB 1757) added Section 38561.5 to the Health and Safety Code (Section 38561.5). Section 38561.5 requires the state to adopt ambitious targets for carbon removal on natural and working lands and to center nature-based climate solutions, as defined in that section, in California’s climate mitigation and resilience efforts in accordance with the best available science.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(b)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Section 38561.5 requires the Natural Resources Agency, the State Air Resources Board, the California Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Food
and Agriculture, an expert advisory committee, as specified, and other state agencies, as provided, to collaborate in developing nature-based climate solution targets for 2030, 2038, and 2045 that contribute to California’s goals of achieving carbon neutrality no later than 2045 and protecting Californians from the climate crisis.
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<html:p>
(c)
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Cumulative scientific, policy, and fiscal commitments described in these findings demonstrate the State of California’s compelling interest in urgently scaling nature-based climate solutions to protect communities, strengthen natural systems, and achieve California’s climate resilience and carbon neutrality objectives.
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<html:p>
(d)
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Nature-based climate solutions are essential strategies that utilize natural systems and working lands to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, enhance carbon sequestration, and strengthen the resilience of California’s communities and
ecosystems.
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<html:p>
(e)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Accelerating the implementation of nature-based climate solutions is necessary to achieve California’s statutory climate change goals, including achieving carbon neutrality no later than 2045 and preparing communities for escalating climate-driven extremes.
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<html:p>
(f)
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Nature-based climate solutions harness the power of natural and working lands to protect communities from wildfire, drought, extreme heat, flooding, sea-level rise, and other climate-driven hazards while simultaneously removing carbon from the atmosphere and supporting biodiversity.
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<html:p>
(g)
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California’s state leaders recognize that scaling up nature-based climate solutions is indispensable to meeting the state’s core climate, resilience, public health, and environmental equity objectives.
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<html:p>
(h)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
In 2022, the state released the Natural and Working Lands Climate Smart Strategy, which identifies priority nature-based climate solutions across the state’s diverse landscapes and provides a comprehensive framework to guide state programs and investments toward maximizing climate benefits.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(i)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
California formally integrated the Natural and Working Lands Climate Smart Strategy into the 2022 Scoping Plan for Achieving Carbon Neutrality, ensuring that nature-based climate solutions are fully embedded in California’s long-term climate planning.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(j)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The 2021 California Climate Adaptation Strategy identified accelerating nature-based climate solutions and strengthening the resilience of natural systems as one of six priority “north stars” guiding climate adaptation policy and investment.
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<html:p>
(k)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The state has
built new partnerships with national and international leaders—including China, Australia, Canada, and South Africa—to advance shared nature-based climate solution goals and accelerate the development and exchange of best practices.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(l)
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In establishing statewide nature-based climate solution targets pursuant to AB 1757, the state set specific targets across California’s major land types—including forests; shrublands and chaparral; grasslands; croplands; developed lands; wetlands and seagrasses; and sparsely vegetated lands—to ensure that every landscape contributes to achieving carbon neutrality and building climate resilience.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(m)
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The reauthorization of the California Cap-and-Invest Program pursuant to Assembly Bill 1207 of the 2025–26 Regular Session (Chapter 117 of the Statutes of 2025) (AB 1207) identified, only until January 1, 2046, nature-based climate solutions as a
priority area for funding by the California Cap-and-Invest Program, reaffirming the state’s commitment to accelerating climate-smart investments.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(n)
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Nature-based climate solutions are the only priorities included in the California Cap-and-Invest Program pursuant to AB 1757 and AB 1207, that do not currently receive a continuous appropriation, demonstrating the need for the Legislature to establish a steady and reliable funding stream to support the sustained implementation of nature-based climate solutions.
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<ns0:Num>SEC. 2.</ns0:Num>
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<html:p>
(a)
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After the amounts specified in subdivisions (a) and (b) of Section 39719 of, and Section 39719.4 of, the Health and Safety Code, are fully allocated as determined by the Department of Finance, the remaining moneys in the fund, up to three hundred million dollars ($300,000,000), are hereby appropriated from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund in the annual Budget Act each fiscal year from the 2027–2028 through the 2045–46 fiscal year, inclusive, to achieve nature-based climate solutions, as follows:
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<html:p>
(1)
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The sum of one hundred fifty million dollars ($150,000,000) shall be allocated to the Natural Resources Agency to fund nature-based climate solutions.
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<html:p>
(2)
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Not less than fifty million dollars ($50,000,000) shall be allocated to the Department of Food and Agriculture to fund nature-based climate solutions in croplands and grasslands, including, but not limited to, healthy soils practices and conversion of conventional to organic systems.
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<html:p>
(3)
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Any amount remaining after allocating the amounts described in paragraphs (1) and (2) shall be allocated for nature-based climate solutions at the discretion of the Legislature.
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<html:p>
(b)
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For purposes of this section, “nature-based climate solutions” has the same meaning as set forth in Section 38561.5 of the Health and Safety Code.
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