(a) The California Environmental Protection Agency, in coordination with the department, the State Water Resources Control Board, the State Air Resources Board, the Department of Food and Agriculture, and the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, shall develop and implement policies to aid in diverting organic waste from landfills by promoting the use of agricultural, forestry, and urban organic waste as a feedstock for compost and by promoting the appropriate use of that compost throughout the state to improve the state’s soil organic matter.
(b) In developing policies pursuant to subdivision (a), the California Environmental Protection Agency shall promote a goal of reducing at least five million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year through the development and application of compost on working lands, which include, but are not limited to, agricultural land, land used for forestry, and rangeland. The California Environmental Protection Agency shall work with the Department of Food and Agriculture, the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and the Forest Management Task Force to achieve this goal.
(c) The Secretary for Environmental Protection and the Secretary of Food and Agriculture shall ensure proper coordination of agency regulations and goals to implement this section. The California Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Food and Agriculture, with the department, the State Water Resources Control Board, the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and the State Air Resources Board, shall do all of the following:
(1) Assess the state’s progress towards developing the organic waste processing and recycling infrastructure necessary to meet the state goals specified in Assembly Bill 341 (Chapter 476 of the Statutes of 2011), Assembly Bill 1826 (Chapter 727 of the Statutes of 2014), Senate Bill 1383 (Chapter 395 of the Statutes of 2016), the State Air Resources Board’s May 2015 Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction Strategy concept paper, and the Department of Food and Agriculture’s Healthy Soils Initiative.
(2) Meet at least quarterly and consult with interested stakeholders, including, but not limited to, the compost industry, local governments, agricultural land managers, and environmental organizations, to encourage the continued viability of the state’s organic waste processing and recycling infrastructure.
(3) Hold at least one public workshop annually to inform the public of actions taken to implement this section and to receive public comment.
(4) Develop recommendations for promoting organic waste processing and recycling infrastructure statewide, which shall be posted on the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Internet Web site no later than January 1, 2017, and updated annually thereafter.
(5) Promote watershed health, reduce fire risk, and improve postfire recovery by encouraging projects that use woody biomass from forests and working lands and that promote the management of woody biomass through onsite wood chip application and integration with other organic waste streams for the purpose of creating compost, where appropriate.
(6) Support postfire recovery efforts to reduce erosion and stabilize fire-damaged land by encouraging the application of compost, while taking into consideration site-specific ecology, to restore soil aggregation, increase water infiltration, reduce runoff, prevent erosion, and support plant growth, where appropriate.
(d) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2026, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2026, deletes or extends that date.
(Amended by Stats. 2018, Ch. 633, Sec. 1. (AB 1981) Effective January 1, 2019. Repealed as of January 1, 2026, by its own provisions.)