BILL NUMBER: AB 590	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Dahle

                        FEBRUARY 24, 2015

   An act to add Section 16428.81 to the Government Code, relating to
greenhouse gases.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 590, as introduced, Dahle. Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.
   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.
   This bill would create the Biomass State Cost Share Account within
the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. The bill would require an
unspecified amount of moneys to be transferred from the Greenhouse
Gas Reduction Fund to the Biomass State Cost Share Account. Moneys in
the account, upon appropriation, would be available for expenditure
by the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission
for the purposes of maintaining the current level of biomass power
generation in the state and revitalizing currently idle facilities in
strategically located regions.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) California leads the nation in bioenergy production, with
one-half of the industry located in this state, which has an abundant
supply of bioenergy resources.
   (b) Biomass power generation provides electric ratepayers with
clean, renewable energy that supplies the grid 24 hours a day, seven
days a week regardless of atmospheric conditions. These benefits are
paid for through contracts with the state's electric utilities.
   (c) Biomass power generation also provides valuable,
environmentally preferred wood waste disposal service for the
disposal of 7.5 to 8 million tons of California's annual solid waste
stream and the avoidance of 1.5 to 3.5 million tons annually of
biogenic CO2 emissions. By diverting biomass residues away from open
burning, landfill burial, and accumulation in forests, the state
benefits from reduced criteria air pollutants and greenhouse gas
emissions, landfill capacity use, forest and watershed improvement,
rural employment and economic development, and energy diversity and
security. These services have been provided without compensation in
the past, as the electricity market was able to fully underwrite the
cost.
   (d) The environmental services provided by biomass power
production are clearly valuable to society and therefore provide the
rationale for a state policy to pay for biomass power generation
commensurate with its provision of waste disposal services.
   (e) Protecting these existing resources will help the state meet
its goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, protect existing jobs,
and provide waste disposal benefits.
  SEC. 2.  Section 16428.81 is added to the Government Code, to read:

   16428.81.  There is hereby created the Biomass State Cost Share
Account within the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund established pursuant
to Section 16428.8. Moneys in the amount of ____ dollars ($____)
shall be transferred annually from the fund to the account. Moneys in
the account, upon appropriation, shall be available for expenditure
by the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission
for the purposes of maintaining the current level of biomass power
generation in the state and revitalizing currently idle facilities in
strategically located regions.