Ocean Protection Council: ocean acidification and hypoxia.

Existing law establishes the Ocean Protection Council in state government and prescribes the membership, functions, and duties of the council with regard to the protection and conservation of ocean and coastal resources. This bill would, subject to the availability of funding, authorize the council to develop an ocean acidification and hypoxia science task force to ensure that council decisionmaking is supported by the best available science, and require the council to take specified actions to address ocean acidification and hypoxia, as prescribed, and, beginning January 1, 2018, and annually thereafter, at its first meeting of the year, adopt recommendations for further actions that may be taken to address ocean acidification and hypoxia.