Air resources: carbon emissions: biomass.

Senator Caballero's biomass management legislation directs state agencies to evaluate and promote alternative uses for California's forest and agricultural residues, aiming to reduce emissions from widespread burning practices. The bill requires the State Air Resources Board to assess life-cycle emissions from various biomass applications by 2028 and incorporate strategies for carbon removal products like biochar into its next climate plan update by 2029.

The Department of Forestry and Fire Protection must include biomass disposal components in state-funded forest health projects, using verifiable methods to determine quantities for physical removal versus prescribed burning. Additionally, the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission must document the potential for converting agricultural and forest biomass into low- and negative-carbon fuels through noncombustion technologies.

The legislation responds to current practices that result in millions of tons of biomass being burned annually through wildfires, prescribed burns, and illegal burning. According to the bill's findings, these burning practices contribute to respiratory illness, heart disease, and premature death while generating emissions that can exceed the state's annual carbon reduction achievements. The measure aligns with California's existing targets for greenhouse gas reduction and the administration's 2024 nature-based climate solutions report, which calls for treating up to 2.5 million acres of land annually through fuel reduction by 2045.