(1) The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 establishes the State Air Resources Board as the state agency responsible for monitoring and regulating sources emitting greenhouse gases. The act requires the state board to adopt rules and regulations to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective greenhouse gas emissions reductions to ensure that the statewide greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 40% below the statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit, as defined, no later than December 31, 2030. Existing law requires the state board to prepare and approve a scoping plan for achieving the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, as provided, and to update the scoping plan at least once every 5 years.

Existing law requires the state board to develop a comprehensive strategy to reduce emissions of short-lived climate pollutants in the state. Existing law requires the state board, in consultation with the Department of Food and Agriculture, to adopt regulations to reduce methane emissions from livestock manure management operations and dairy manure management operations by up to 40% below the dairy sector’s and livestock sector’s 2013 levels by 2030.

This bill would require the Department of Food and Agriculture to convene an interagency task force to evaluate the role of alternative manure management practices in achieving certain goals and to make specified findings and recommendations based on its evaluation. The bill would require the task force to include representatives from specified state agencies, external scientific and technical experts, and other stakeholders, as provided. The bill would require the task force to coordinate scenario modeling of alternative manure management practices adoption within the dairy and livestock industry under different policy and funding conditions, assess how alternative manure management practices can help the state meet groundwater protection strategies, water quality plans, and working lands climate goals, and facilitate interagency data sharing, technical consultation, and identification of research needs, as provided. The bill would authorize the state board to incorporate the task force’s findings and recommendations into updates to the above-described comprehensive strategy, the 2027 update to the scoping plan, and other planning documents as appropriate.

(2) Existing law requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, in partnership with various government agencies, to identify and recommend actions to address, with regard to both state agencies and the federal government, the permitting and siting challenges associated with composting and anaerobic digestion, and to encourage the continued viability of the state’s organic waste processing and recycling infrastructure.

This bill would require the Department of Food and Agriculture to convene relevant government agencies, with input from the regulated community, to create an efficient and effective process for approving new projects that manage livestock and dairy manure through on-farm composting or by selling or transferring manure to offsite users.