Bill Text: CA SB485 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended

California Senate Bill 485

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

Bill Title: Elections: election worker protections.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2023-10-08 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 611, Statutes of 2023. [SB485 Detail]

Download: California-2023-SB485-Amended.html

Amended IN Senate May 01, 2023

Amended IN Senate April 19, 2023

Amended IN Senate March 30, 2023

Amended IN Senate March 20, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill

No. 485

Introduced by Senator Becker

February 14, 2023

An act to ~~amend Section 568 of the Food and Agricultural Code, and to~~ add Section 39730.7.5 to the Health and Safety Code, relating to air resources.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 485, as amended, Becker. Methane emissions: ~~livestock:~~ dairy cattle: feed additives.

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 9-member Scientific Advisory Panel on Environmental Farming for specified purposes, including to review data on the impact that agriculture has on the environment and recommend to the secretary and appropriate state agencies the best available science on environmental impacts of agriculture. Existing law specifies the qualifications of members of the panel and requires the Secretary for Environmental Protection to appoint 2 members of the panel.
This bill would expand the membership of the board to 10 members, including a member who would be required to have scientific research expertise in livestock emissions. The bill would also expand the scope of the duties of the panel by requiring the panel to provide input to the department regarding specified programs and any new programs established by the department for enteric fermentation emission reduction.

Existing law requires the State Air Resources Board to approve and begin implementing a comprehensive short-lived climate pollutant strategy, as specified, to achieve a reduction in the statewide emissions of methane by 40%, hydrofluorocarbon gases by 40%, and anthropogenic black carbon by 50% below 2013 levels by 2030. 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, consistent with the strategy, by up to 40% below the dairy sector’s and livestock sector’s 2013 levels by 2030.

This bill would require, on or before August 1, 2026, the state board, in consultation with the Department of Food and Agriculture, to create a feed additive program to reduce emissions, as specified. The bill would also require the state board, in consultation with the department, to provide the Legislature with a report, 2 years after a safe and effective feed additive is commercially available, as determined by the state board, about further funding and scientific research that is necessary to improve the incentive program, and to convene specified workgroups for related purposes, including a workgroup to provide a comprehensive assessment to the Legislature of the potential impacts of feed additives, as described, on or before August 1, 2026, among other duties. The bill would require the department to report to the Legislature on an outreach plan for potential applicants for voluntary incentive programs, as provided, and to provide technical assistance, upon request, to any organic or pasture-based dairies or small farm, as described, for any enteric fermentation program created, among other duties. The bill would allocate, upon appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act for these purposes, as specified, the sum of $10,000,000 to the state board for early research, development, and demonstration projects of enteric fermentation, after completion of the report to the Legislature regarding improving the incentive program. emissions from dairy cattle, to be achieved through the use of voluntary incentives, if and when effective feed additives are demonstrated to be scientifically proven, cost effective, and safe. The bill would require the state board, in order to achieve that goal, to convene a workgroup to complete a comprehensive assessment of the potential impacts of feed additives on dairy cattle and to implement a voluntary incentives program consistent with the findings of the workgroup as set forth in the assessment.

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.
It is the intent of the Legislature to do all of the following:
(a) Provide incentives for scientifically effective, safe, and economic feed additives that reduce methane emissions from enteric fermentation in dairy cattle.
(b) Signal to investors and manufacturers California’s interest and support for scientifically sound feed additives that can reduce methane in dairy cattle.
(c) Recognize the need for more accurate and available research on enteric fermentation solutions for the timely approval of dairy cattle feed additives that require safety approval from federal and state agencies.
(d) Recognize the Department of Food and Agriculture’s and the United States Food and Drug Administration’s existing efforts to support expedited approval methods for dairy cattle feed additives, and encourage further partnership that also ensures no harm to public health, animal health, and environmental health.

SEC. 2.

Section 39730.7.5 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:

39730.7.5.
(a) On or before August 1, 2026, the state board shall, in consultation with the Department of Food and Agriculture, create a feed additive program to reduce emissions from dairy cattle, which shall be achieved through the use of voluntary incentives, if and when effective feed additives are demonstrated to be scientifically proven, cost effective, and safe.
(b) In order to achieve the goal described in subdivision (a), the state board shall do both of the following:
(1) Convene a workgroup to complete a comprehensive assessment of the potential impacts of feed additives on dairy cattle.
(2) Implement a voluntary incentives program consistent with the findings of the workgroup as set forth in the assessment described in paragraph (1).
(c) This section does not limit the provisions of Section 39730.7.