Livestock carcasses: disposal: composting.

Assembly Member Papan's livestock composting legislation creates a regulated pathway for farmers to compost routine livestock mortalities and on-farm processing remains on their agricultural properties. The measure establishes specific conditions under which composting may occur, departing from current prohibitions on processing unprocessed mammalian tissue.

The bill requires composting operations to follow best management practices developed jointly by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, and State Water Resources Control Board. These practices must address groundwater protection, public health safeguards, proper pile management, and enforcement procedures. Composting facilities must maintain less than 100 cubic yards of material on-site and may only process carcasses from agricultural properties owned or leased by the operator. The resulting compost must be applied to the operator's agricultural land.

Operators must notify local enforcement agencies and regional water quality control boards within 30 days of beginning operations. The provisions apply only to routine livestock deaths from natural causes, explicitly excluding animals euthanized with barbiturates, those that died from reportable diseases, or deaths in quarantined areas. If composting occurs at a different site than where the mortality occurred, transport must remain within the same or adjacent county and comply with existing regulations.