Resources: Delta research.

Existing law, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Reform Act of 2009, requires the Delta Stewardship Council to develop, adopt, and commence implementation of a comprehensive management plan for the Delta, meeting specified requirements. The act requires the Delta Independent Science Board to develop a scientific program relating to the management of the Delta. This bill would require a person conducting Delta research, as defined, whose research is funded, in whole or in part, by the state, to take specified actions with regard to the sharing of the primary data, samples, physical collections, and other supporting materials created or gathered in the course of that research. The bill would authorize the Delta Independent Science Board to adopt guidelines to provide adjustments to, and, where essential, exceptions from, these requirements and would exempt the adoption of these guidelines from the procedural requirements for the adoption of regulations. The bill would require a state agency that funds or participates in Delta research to implement policies to disseminate and share Delta research results, in a specified manner. The bill would make a researcher ineligible for state funding if the researcher does not provide the information required by the bill within 6 months of the date of the final publication or public dissemination of the research findings, until the researcher complies with the bill's requirements. The bill would provide that all legal rights to tangible property collected or created during Delta research remain with the researcher, as determined by the policies of the organization providing the grant, contract, or other agreement, except as specified, but would require a researcher to make this tangible property appropriately available to other researchers.