Coastal resources: ocean recovery and restoration: large-scale restoration: artificial reefs.

(1) Existing law establishes the Ocean Protection Council in state government. Among other things, the council is required to develop and implement a coastal climate change adaptation, infrastructure, and readiness program that does certain things, including recommend best practices and strategies to improve the climate change resilience of the state's coastal communities, infrastructure, and habitat. Existing law authorizes the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to enter into an agreement with an existing nonprofit corporation to establish a nongovernmental trust with the purpose of, among other things, encouraging coordinated, multiagency, multiinstitution approaches to ocean resource science to deliver actionable science solutions that accelerate equitable climate change adaptation. This bill would require the secretary, on or before December 1, 2024, to establish acreage-based targets to restore kelp forests, eelgrass meadows, and native oyster beds, with the goal of achieving restoration by the year 2050, as provided. The bill would require the council to establish a Kelp Forest and Estuary Restoration and Recovery Framework to achieve the above-described acreage-based targets. The bill would require the framework to contain specified things, including criteria by which a designated area of kelp forests, eelgrass meadows, and native oyster beds can be considered restored. The bill would require the council to establish an interagency working group that coordinates and facilitates large-scale restoration along the coast, as provided. The bill would establish in the State Treasury the Ocean Restoration and Recovery Fund to be administered by the council and consisting of specified moneys. The bill would require the fund to be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to develop and carry out large-scale restoration and enhancement projects, as provided. The bill would require the council to publish various items on its internet website and to provide reports to the Legislature, regarding the above provisions, as provided. (2) Existing law requires the Department of Fish and Wildlife to administer the California Artificial Reef Program, which, among other things, includes the placement of artificial reefs in state waters. This bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2026, in coordination and consultation with the Ocean Protection Council, among other state entities, to review the program, as provided. The bill would require the department to post the completed review on its internet website.