Wildlife: bears.

The document was reformatted from an official printed legislative text (with line numbers, page headers/footers, and column layout) to a web page rendering that includes site navigation, search functionality, bill tracking links, and version history. All substantive legislative provisions remain identical.

Legislative finding (a) changed from 'is a California keystone species' to 'is was a California keystone species' and 'promote biodiversity' to 'promoted biodiversity,' shifting from present to past tense to acknowledge grizzly bears are no longer in California.

New legislative finding (h) added stating that development of the roadmap, assessments, consultations, and coexistence frameworks may benefit habitat restoration, species recovery, and human-wildlife coexistence initiatives within and surrounding reintroduction areas evaluated, regardless of whether reintroduction is ultimately undertaken. This broadens the bill's stated purpose beyond grizzly reintroduction specifically.

Section 9 numbering appears disrupted in the Assembly version (showing 'SEC. 9.' followed by 'SEC. 3.'), likely a clerical error from renumbering during amendment.

The bill's core purpose shifts from a policy commitment to restore grizzly bears to California to an assessment framework that evaluates whether reintroduction is biologically feasible and advisable, and whether ecological functions can be restored through human-mediated landscape restoration (not only through reintroduction).

New amendments to existing Fish and Game Code sections (3011, 3950, 4181, 4181.1, 4185) and a new Section 4764 explicitly exclude grizzly bears from bear trapping restrictions, game mammal classification, depredation permit provisions, and other bear management rules.

Two additional coauthors are added: Senators Blakespear and Stern, joining Senator Richardson and Senator Weber Pierson.

The deadline for the Department of Fish and Wildlife to submit the roadmap to the Legislature changes from June 30, 2028 to June 30, 2030, a two-year extension.

Additional preconditions are added before any reintroduction may occur: completion of the roadmap, scientific determinations that a self-sustaining population is biologically viable, identification of specific areas for reintroduction, adoption of a tribal values framework, and adoption of long-term stewardship standards including livestock loss prevention and compensation measures for agricultural operations.

The roadmap content requirements are substantially expanded to include detailed scientific assessments of historical distribution, genetic relationships to source populations, ecological impacts of extirpation, source population composition (genetic diversity, disease screening), economic impacts on agriculture/ranching/forest products/outdoor recreation, and broader stakeholder consultation adding law enforcement, regional conservation organizations, and outdoor recreation groups.

The bill title changes from 'California Grizzly Restoration Act' to 'California Grizzly Restoration Recovery Assessment Act,' and the chapter title changes from 'Grizzly Bears' (plural) to 'Grizzly Bear' (singular).

Legislative findings are softened in several places: 'the most significant loss of a native species' becomes 'one of the most significant and widespread losses'; 'deliberate extirpation' is changed to simply 'extirpation' in one instance; and the subspecies finding is reworded from 'were long believed to represent an extinct subspecies' to 'were previously described as an endemic subspecies.' Idaho and Washington are added to the list of states with grizzly populations.