CalCAN’s Bill History
CalCAN sponsored or played a lead role in the following bills that passed and were signed into law:
SB 489, Renewable Energy Equity Act (2011) — Authored by Senator Lois Wolk, the bill expanded the state’s Net Energy Metering (NEM) program to include small scale bioenergy projects and improve grid connection options for farmers.
AB 2174 (2012) — Introduced by Assemblymember Luis Alejo, the bill reformed the Fertilizer Research and Education Program (FREP) by allowing technical assistance projects as an eligible category of funding.
SB 594 (2012) — Introduced by Senator Lois Wolk, the bill established the Net Energy Metering Aggregation (NEMA) program which allows renewable energy produced on one meter to be credited against electricity use on other meters of the same customer, making NEM more cost-effective for growers.
AB 1532 (2012) — Introduced by Speaker John Perez, the bill includes sustainable agriculture as an eligible funding area for cap and trade investment.
SB 732 (2017) — This bill, authored by Senator Henry Stern, encourages local governments to identify and prioritize agricultural lands for farmland conservation and identify land suitable for urban in-fill development.
SB 5 (2017) — This bill, by Senator Kevin De León, led to the inclusion of natural resources bond measure Proposition 68 on the June 2018 ballot, which was passed by voters. CalCAN successfully advocated for key investments in the agriculture chapter.
SB 252 (2017) — Introduced by Senator Bill Dodd, the bill responded to groundwater concerns of many family farmers and rural residents by requiring local governments in critically overdrafted groundwater basins to request additional information on new well permits and make the information publicly available.
AB 2377 (2018) — Authored by Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, this bill funds technical assistance for farmers and ranchers who want to establish Healthy Soils, SWEEP and Alternative Manure Management Program projects.
CalCAN played a sponsoring or lead role in the following bills that did not pass but informed budget bills and/or resulted in policy changes:
SB 1350 (2016) — Language from this Healthy Soils Bill, introduced by Senator Lois Wolk, informed the budget bill SB 859 that established the Healthy Soils program in statute and led to the creation of the Alternative Manure Management Program.
AB 2484 (2020) – Introduced by Assemblymember Mark Stone, the bill made improvements to the State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program (SWEEP) and would have creared an advisory group to the program. While the bill ultimately did not advance, CDFA established the proposed SWEEP ad hoc advisory group, which then advanced a number of the issues raised in the original legislation.
AB 125 (2021) – Introduced by Assemblymember Robert Rivas, AB 125 would put a bond on the 2022 ballot to invest $3.302 billion over five years in farmworker safety & well-being, healthy food access, climate resilient farms and regional food economies. Like the other bond measures proposed during this time, the bill did not advance, but the coalition that co-sponsored AB 125, including CalCAN, secured $1.3 billion in resilient food and farming system investments in the FY 2021-2022 budget.
