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Committee releases additional bills on soil conservation, beach disclosures, ESIP and farmland renewables
Summary
The committee unanimously released several additional bills: SB2064 (soil conservation board expansion), SB2638 (municipal beach cost disclosure with amendments), SB4061 (including SREC-II in ESIP calculations), and SB3944 (renewable systems on preserved farmland); SADC concerns on title and ownership were noted for SB3944.
The Senate Environment and Energy Committee advanced multiple additional measures in a single session.
- SB2064 (Sen. Paulastina/Buco) would authorize soil conservation districts to have more than five supervisors. Al Murray, speaking for the conservation districts, said consolidation has led to broader districts and that additional volunteer supervisors would bring expertise and would not cost the state.
- SB2638 (Sen. Gopal) would require certain municipalities to include beach costs and revenues in public-access plans; the committee proposed an amendment to include municipally owned beach clubs and children’s recreation camps and then amended and released the bill.
- SB4061 (Smith/Greenstein) would allow the value of SREC-II credits to be included in cost-benefit calculations under the Energy Savings Improvement Program (ESIP); proponents argued the change broadens eligibility and the bill was released.
- SB3944 (Sen. Smith) authorizes renewable systems on preserved farmland to provide power or heat to adjacent properties when the adjacent property is the primary residence of the farm owner/operator. The State Agriculture Development Committee raised concerns about preservation rules, title issues and ownership changes; the committee read the bill’s subsection limiting eligibility to an owner/operator’s primary residence and agreed to coordinate clarifying language with SADC before further action.
Each of these bills was released by unanimous committee roll call and will proceed to subsequent legislative steps.
