AB 53 California Assembly · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Native American tribes: fish and wildlife: conservation and mitigation lands.

Summary

(1) Existing law requires the Wildlife Conservation Board to establish and administer, through the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the California Riparian Habitat Conservation Program with the purpose and goal of protecting, preserving, and restoring riparian habitats throughout the state, as specified. Existing law authorizes the board to authorize the department to award grants and loans for the purposes of the program to specified entities. This bill would authorize the board to authorize the department to make those awards to federally recognized tribes. (2) Existing law establishes the Inland Wetlands Conservation Program under the board with the purpose and goal of carrying out the programs of the Central Valley Habitat Joint Venture. Existing law authorizes the board to make grants or loans for the purpose of wetland and associated upland habitat acquisition, restoration, or enhancement to specified entities. This bill would authorize the board to make those grants or loans to federally recognized tribes. (3) Existing law authorizes the department to enter into contracts or other agreements with nonprofit conservation groups or resource conservation districts for the management and operation of department-managed lands. This bill would authorize the department to also enter into those contracts or other agreements with federally recognized tribes.

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Dec 2024

Committee Review

Aug 2026

Assembly Passage

May 2025

Senate Passage

Governor

Introduced Dec 2, 2024 Last action Aug 13, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 4 comparisons

What changed between versions

02/24/25 - Amended Assembly → 06/11/26 - Amended Senate · 6 edits · Jun 11, 2026

MODERATE

AB 53 was substantially expanded in the Senate to add provisions authorizing state wildlife and conservation agencies to work with federally recognized tribes on habitat conservation, wetland grants, land management contracts, and conservation land transfers. The military retirement tax exclusion timeline was moved earlier (now 2025-2030 instead of 2027-2037), and the bill's data collection and reporting requirements were largely eliminated.

SCOPE

New provisions amend Fish and Game Code sections 1390, 1416, and 1745 to authorize the Wildlife Conservation Board and Department of Fish and Wildlife to award grants, loans, and management contracts to federally recognized tribes for riparian habitat conservation, wetland restoration, and operation of department-managed lands.

New provision amends Public Resources Code section 5096.516 to exempt the sale or transfer of conservation lands to federally recognized tribes from the general prohibition on selling conservation lands, when done to improve conservation management, public access, historic preservation, or biological value.

TIMELINE

The military retirement pay and survivor benefit plan tax exclusion period was changed from taxable years 2027 through 2036 (ending December 1, 2037) to taxable years 2025 through 2029 (ending December 1, 2030), making the exclusion start two years earlier and end seven years earlier.

ENFORCEMENT

The detailed data collection requirements, performance indicators, and Legislative Analyst report deadline (previously due by December 1, 2037) were removed. The bill now simply states there is no available data to collect or report with respect to the exclusions.

FISCAL

The state-mandated local program finding and the related reimbursement provision (Section 6 of the old version) were removed. The bill now states 'State-mandated local program: no' instead of 'yes.'

DEFINITION

The separate definition of 'Armed Forces of the United States' was removed as a standalone subsection. The term is now only referenced within the 'Uniformed services' definition without its own definitional paragraph.

06/11/26 - Amended Senate → 07/02/26 - Amended Senate · 4 edits · Jul 2, 2026

MODERATE

The July 2 amendment to AB 53 removed the entire military retirement tax exclusion component (Sections 17132.9 and 17132.10 of the Revenue and Taxation Code), which had provided a $20,000 state income tax exclusion for military retirement pay and survivor benefit plan annuities for taxable years 2025 through 2029. The bill now focuses exclusively on Native American tribal provisions related to fish and wildlife conservation lands. A new intent section was added directing the Legislature to enact follow-up legislation creating a faster process for returning qualifying Department of Fish and Wildlife lands to federally recognized tribes.

Scope change

The bill's scope narrowed from a two-part measure (military tax exclusion plus Native American tribal land provisions) to a single-purpose bill addressing only Native American tribes and fish/wildlife conservation lands. The military tax exclusion component was entirely stripped out, eliminating the revenue-impacting provisions and the tax levy designation.

SCOPE

The entire Military Services Retirement and Surviving Spouse Benefit Payment Act was removed, including the $20,000 state income tax exclusion for military retirement pay (Section 17132.9) and the $20,000 exclusion for Department of Defense Survivor Benefit Plan annuities (Section 17132.10), both applicable to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2025 and before January 1, 2030, with income phase-out thresholds of $125,000 for individuals and $250,000 for joint filers.

A new Section 1 was added stating it is the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation that would develop a faster public process for the Department of Fish and Wildlife to return lands meeting certain criteria to federally recognized tribes.

FISCAL

The tax levy designation was removed from the bill, as the revenue-impacting military tax exclusion provisions were eliminated.

TECHNICAL

Minor corrections were made including fixing a duplicated word ('agencies agencies' to 'agencies'), correcting 'thereon interest' to 'interest', changing 'his or her' to 'their' in one instance, and removing all coauthor listings so the bill is attributed solely to Assembly Member Ramos.

12/02/24 - Introduced → 02/24/25 - Amended Assembly · 6 edits · Feb 24, 2025

MODERATE

AB 53 was substantially amended to narrow the scope of its military retirement pay and survivor benefit plan tax exclusions. The effective period shifted from 2027-2037 to 2025-2030, a $20,000 annual cap was added to both exclusions, and new income eligibility thresholds ($125,000 individual / $250,000 joint) were imposed. The bill also dropped its data collection and reporting requirements, stating no available data exists to report.

Scope change

The bill's scope narrowed significantly: it now applies to a shorter time window (2025-2030 instead of 2027-2037), only to taxpayers below specific income thresholds, and only up to $20,000 per year in excluded amounts. The original bill would have provided an uncapped exclusion to all uniformed service retirees and survivor benefit plan beneficiaries for a decade.

TIMELINE

The exclusion period changed from taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2027 and before January 1, 2037, to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2025 and before January 1, 2030. The exclusion now starts two years earlier but expires seven years sooner.

ELIGIBILITY

A $20,000 annual cap was added to both the retirement pay exclusion (Section 17132.9) and the survivor benefit plan annuity exclusion (Section 17132.10). The original bill had no dollar limit on the amount excluded from gross income.

New adjusted gross income thresholds were added: taxpayers must have AGI not exceeding $250,000 (married filing jointly) or $125,000 (any other individual) to qualify for either exclusion. The original bill had no income limit.

REQUIREMENT

The tax expenditure compliance section (Section 5) was rewritten. The original required the Legislative Analyst to produce a detailed report by December 1, 2037 with specific performance indicators and data collection from the Franchise Tax Board and Department of Veterans Affairs. The amended version states there is no available data to collect or report, and adds a sunset date of December 1, 2030 for that section.

SCOPE

The state-mandated local program designation changed from 'yes' to 'no' in the legislative counsel's digest, reflecting the removal of the data collection obligations that had triggered the local program finding.

Additional coauthors were added from both the Assembly and Senate, including principal coauthors Jeff Gonzalez (Assembly) and Senator Cervantes, indicating broader bipartisan or cross-chamber support for the amended bill.

Floor votes · Assembly May 29, 2025

How they voted

69–0

Passed · 9 other

Total votes 78

May 29, 2025

D Democratic59

52 Yea 7

88% Yea

R Republican19

17 Yea 2

89% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Aug 13, 2026

Upper · Passed

In committee: Held under submission.

upper

Aug 3, 2026

Committee

In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file.

upper

Jul 2, 2026

Upper · Passed

Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

upper

Jul 2, 2026

Introduced

From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (July 1).

upper

Jun 15, 2026

Committee

Re-referred to Com. on N.R. & W.

upper

Jun 12, 2026

Committee

Re-referred to Com. on RLS.

upper

Jun 11, 2026

Introduced

From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on REV. & TAX.

upper

Jun 11, 2025

Committee

Referred to Coms. on REV. & TAX. and M. & V.A.

upper

May 29, 2025

Lower · Passed

Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 70. Noes 0. Page 1776.)

lower

May 23, 2025

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (May 23).

lower

May 21, 2025

Committee

In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file.

lower

May 14, 2025

Lower · Passed

In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.

lower

May 6, 2025

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (May 5). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

lower

Mar 17, 2025

Committee

In committee: Set, second hearing. Referred to REV. & TAX. suspense file.

lower

Mar 10, 2025

Lower · Passed

In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.

lower

Feb 25, 2025

Committee

Re-referred to Com. on REV. & TAX.

lower

Feb 24, 2025

Introduced

From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on REV. & TAX. Read second time and amended.

lower

Feb 3, 2025

Committee

Referred to Com. on REV. & TAX.

lower

Dec 3, 2024

Lower · Passed

From printer. May be heard in committee January 2.

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors