Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund: grant program: recyclable materials.

The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The act authorizes the state board to include the use of market-based compliance mechanisms. Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the state board from the market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and to be available upon appropriation by the Legislature. Existing law requires certain moneys appropriated by the Legislature from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to be used by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery for a grant program to provide financial assistance to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by promoting in-state development of infrastructure to process organic and other recyclable materials into new, value-added products. This bill would require the department, in awarding a grant for organics composting or anaerobic digestion under the program, to consider, among other things, the amount of greenhouse gas emissions reductions that may result from the project and the amount of organic material that may be diverted from landfills as a result of the project. This bill would also permit the department, to the degree that funds are available, to provide larger grant awards for large-scale regional integrated projects that provide cost-effective organic waste diversion and maximize environmental benefits.