California Ag Network

Tag: Gerry Brown

  • Governor Brown Takes Action to Increase Zero-Emission Vehicles, Fund New Climate Investments

    Sacramento, Calif., (January 31, 2018) – Taking action to further California’s climate leadership, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today signed an executive order to boost the supply of zero-emission vehicles and charging and refueling stations in California. The Governor also detailed the new plan for investing $1.25 billion in cap-and-trade auction proceeds to reduce carbon pollution and improve public health and the environment.

    “This executive order aims to curb carbon pollution from cars and trucks and boost the number of zero-emission vehicles driven in California,” said Governor Brown. “In addition, the cap-and-trade investments will, in varying degrees, reduce California’s carbon footprint and improve the quality of life for all.”

    Climate Smart Agriculture is a significant component of the cap-and-trade plan – an integrated approach to achieving GHG reductions while also ensuring food security in the face of climate change. This strategy is defined by three main pillars: (1) sustainably increasing farm productivity and incomes, (2) adapting and building resilience to climate change, and (3) reducing and removing GHG emissions, where possible.  The Cap and Trade Expenditure Plan supports these efforts through the following proposals, including CDFA programs housed in the agency’s Office of Environmental Farming and Innovation:

    • Agricultural Diesel Engine Replacement and Upgrades—$102 million for the Air Board to provide incentives for farmers and agricultural businesses to replace existing diesel, agricultural vehicles and equipment with the cleanest available diesel or advanced technologies. Emissions from agricultural equipment are a significant source of air pollution, especially in the San Joaquin Valley, and reducing these emissions is critical for meeting federal ozone and particulate matter air quality standards.
    • Agricultural Energy Efficiency Program—$34 million for the Energy Commission to reduce energy costs, increase efficiency, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the food processing sector.  Funded technologies will be reliable, have potential for broad sector adoption and help contribute to meeting the state’s energy efficiency and greenhouse gas reduction goals.
    • Healthy Soils Program—$5 million for the Department of Food and Agriculture to provide financial incentives to farmers to implement conservation agriculture management practices that sequester carbon, reduce atmospheric GHGs, and improve soil health. The program is the first in the world to directly relate agricultural management practices to quantitative GHG reductions and promote the development of healthy soils on California’s farmlands and ranchlands.  The Budget also includes an additional $9 million from the California Drought, Water, Parks, Climate, Coastal Protection, and Outdoors Access for All Fund (SB 5), for a total of $14 million for this program.
    • Renewable Energy Program—$4 million for the Energy Commission to provide grants for the installation of cost-effective on-site renewable energy for agricultural operations located in disadvantaged communities.

    Short-lived Climate Pollutants

    The warming effect of short-lived climate pollutants, such as methane, fluorinated gases and black carbon, can be significantly greater than that of carbon dioxide. Reducing these emissions can have an immediate beneficial impact on both climate change and public health. Chapter 523, Statutes of 2014, included a number of requirements for addressing dairy and livestock sector methane emissions and landfill methane emissions via diversion of organic material from the waste stream.  The Cap and Trade Expenditure Plan includes the following proposals in support of these efforts:

    • Methane Reduction—$99 million for the Department of Food and Agriculture’sDairy Digester Research and Development Program and Alternative Manure Management Program to reduce methane emissions. Methane is 25 times more potent as a greenhouse gas compared to carbon dioxide. The Dairy Digester Research and Development Program offers grants to dairies to capture methane to be used for transportation fuels and clean energy production. The Alternative Manure Management Program provides financial incentives to dairy farms to implement non-digester manure management programs to reduce methane emissions.
    • Waste Diversion—$20 million for the Department of Resources, Recycling and Recovery to provide financial incentives for infrastructure facilities that divert waste from landfills, which will reduce methane emissions. Projects include composting, anaerobic digestion, and fiber, plastic, and glass recycling facilities.

  • Governor Brown Proposes 2017-2018 State Budget

    Sacramento, Calif., (January 11, 2017) – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today proposed a balanced state budget that eliminates a projected $2 billion deficit and bolsters the state’s Rainy Day Fund while continuing to invest in education, health care expansion and other core programs.

    In a letter to the Legislature, the Governor explained that while this year’s budget “protects our most important achievements,” it is also “the most difficult that we have faced since 2012” and “uncertainty about the future makes acting responsibly now even more important.”

    Significant details of the Governor’s 2017-18 State Budget include:

    The budget proposes $3.2 billion in solutions to ensure a balanced budget. By tempering spending growth rather than cutting existing program levels, these actions minimize the negative effects on Californians. The solutions include adjusting Proposition 98 spending, recapturing unspent allocations from 2016 and constraining some projected spending growth. In total, General Fund spending remains flat compared to 2016-17.

    Proposition 2 establishes a constitutional goal of having 10 percent of tax revenues in the state’s Rainy Day Fund. With a $1.15 billion deposit in the budget, the Rainy Day Fund will total $7.9 billion by the end of 2017-18, 63 percent of the constitutional target. While a full Rainy Day Fund might not eliminate the need for further spending reductions in case of a recession or major federal policy changes, saving now would allow the state to soften the magnitude and length of necessary cuts.

    K-14 funding is expected to grow to $73.5 billion in 2017-18, up 55 percent – or $26.2 billion – from 2011-12. For K-12 schools, funding levels will increase by about $3,900 per student in 2017-18, over 2011-12 levels. This reinvestment provides the opportunity to correct historical inequities in school district funding with continued implementation of the Local Control Funding Formula.

    Under the optional expansion provisions of the federal Affordable Care Act, the budget increases enrollment of this Medi-Cal population to 4.1 million Californians, with the state’s General Fund share of cost increasing from $888 million to nearly $1.6 billion.

    California has an extensive safety net for the state’s residents who live in poverty. Since 2012, the General Fund has invested about $18 billion annually to help those in poverty. The budget continues to fund:

    • The rising state minimum wage, which is scheduled to increase to $11 per hour in 2018 and $15 per hour over time.
    • California’s Earned Income Tax Credit.
    • The first cost-of-living adjustment for Supplemental Security Income/State Supplementary Payment recipients since 2005.
    • The repeal of the maximum family grant rule in CalWORKs, which denied aid to children who were born while their parents were receiving aid.
    • Increases in child care and early education provider rates and children served totaling $837 million.

    Annual maintenance and repairs of California’s highways, roads and bridges are billions of dollars more than can be funded annually within existing revenues. The budget reflects the Governor’s transportation package, first proposed in September 2015, which would provide $4.2 billion annually to improve the maintenance of highways and local roads, expand public transit and strengthen critical trade routes.

    The state has appropriated $3.4 billion in cap-and-trade auction proceeds to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with funding prioritized in disadvantaged communities. With volatility in recent auctions due in part to uncertainty about the program’s post-2020 future, the Administration proposes two-thirds urgency legislation to confirm the program’s continued authority beyond 2020. Assuming approval, the budget proposes $2.2 billion in expenditures from auction proceeds, with a continued emphasis on low-income and disadvantaged communities.

    The full summary of the Governor’s budget proposal can be found at www.ebudget.ca.gov.

  • Update and Progress On California Water Action Plan

    Sacramento, Calif., (January 11, 2017) – A new report from several California agencies tracks the significant progress made in 2016 toward achievement of the California Water Action Plan – progress that builds the reliability and resiliency of our water resources.

    The report released today highlights the achievements of 2016, the third year that state agencies have been coordinating efforts under the Water Action Plan. First released by the administration of Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. in January 2014, the Water Action Plan is a five-year framework with 10 overarching goals designed to bring sustainability to California’s water resources and restoration to its most important ecosystems.
    The plan’s major goals include making conservation a way of life, increasing regional self-reliance in water supplies, managing and preparing for dry periods, and providing safe water for all communities. The plan is the foundation for expenditures under Proposition 1, the $7.5 billion water bond passed overwhelmingly by California voters in November 2014.

    The 2016 summary of accomplishments was prepared by the California Natural Resources Agency, California Environmental Protection Agency, and the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

    “We built momentum in 2016 that we intend to maintain in 2017 and beyond,” said California Natural Resources Secretary John Laird. “United by the Water Action Plan goals and enabled by the Proposition 1 funds, we are making investments that will pay off for generations to come.”

    California Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross said, ““This plan is critically important beyond the year-to-year fluctuations we experience in precipitation. Looking ahead, we know that we must work together to make every drop of water count in California.”
    “The drought has highlighted the challenges California faces under climate change,” said CalEPA Secretary Matt Rodriquez. “The Water Action Plan serves as an invaluable guide to ensure that our short-term responses to the drought are also being translated into actions that make our water system more sustainable and resilient over the long term.”

    Some of the 2016 achievements described in the California Water Action Plan Implementation Report – 2016 Summary of Accomplishments include:

    • The investment of hundreds of millions of dollars of Proposition 1 funds in local projects that recycle water, improve farm irrigation water efficiency, capture stormwater, and otherwise stretch and safeguard supplies. These state bond dollars will leverage additional hundreds of millions of dollars of federal and local investment.
    • Launch of dozens of habitat restoration projects around the state, including the largest tidal wetlands restoration project in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
    • Support for the implementation of Klamath dam removal through bond funding and amendments to a key multi-party agreement.
      Creation of a five-agency framework for moving California beyond emergency, one-size-fits-all drought restrictions on water to permanent water-use efficiency standards in a way that accounts for local conditions and demographics.
    • Implementation of regulations to carry out the historic Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014, with counties, cities, and local water districts beginning to form the new agencies that will bring groundwater pumping and recharge into balance.
    • Launch of a public process to update the water quality standards and flow requirements in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to balance the needs of fish, farms, and cities. The State Water Resources Control Board began hearings this year to update 20-year-old Delta water quality standards.

    For more information about the California Water Action Plan, visit http://resources.ca.gov/california_water_action_plan/.