The Wildlife Conservation Law of 1947 establishes the Wildlife Conservation Board within the Department of Fish and Wildlife to investigate, study, and determine what areas within the state are most essential and suitable for wildlife production and preservation, among other things. Under existing law, the board administers various habitat conservation programs. This bill would require the board to establish and administer, through the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Diablo Range Conservation Program and, pursuant to the program, to approve projects to acquire, preserve, restore, and enhance habitat within the Diablo Range, as defined, consistent with conservation strategies approved by the department. The bill would authorize the board to provide grants to local public agencies, nonprofit organizations, and California Native American tribes to be used for various purposes, including the acquisition, restoration, and enhancement of fish and wildlife habitat and other natural resources within and adjacent to the Diablo Range. The bill would establish the Diablo Range Conservation Fund in the State Treasury and would make moneys in the fund available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for purposes of the program. The bill would authorize the board to accept moneys, grants, goods, or services contributed to it by public agencies or private entities or persons and would require those moneys to be deposited in the Donation Account, which the bill would establish in the fund. The bill would continuously appropriate the moneys in the account to the board for purposes of the program, thereby making an appropriation.
(1) The California Wildlife, Coastal, and Park Land Conservation Act, an initiative measure approved by the voters in the June 7, 1988, statewide primary election, provided bond funds for wildlife, coastal, and parkland conservation. The initiative measure authorizes the act to be amended by 2 3 "?> a 23 vote of the Legislature if the amendment is consistent with the purposes of the act. Existing law requires an applicant receiving state funds under the act to maintain any property acquired in perpetuity, as specified, to use the property only for the purposes stated in the act, and to make no other use, sale, or other disposition of the property except as authorized by a specific act of the Legislature. Existing law authorizes the County of San Bernardino to sell or exchange property it owns within the Chino Agricultural Preserve that was purchased with grant funds if it meets certain conditions. Among those conditions, existing law requires the county to preserve all lands and conservation easements acquired or dedicated as authorized by the act in perpetuity for open-space conservation purposes or agricultural preservation, and specifies that agricultural conservation includes community gardens, agricultural heritage projects, agricultural and wildlife education, or wildlife habitat. This bill would additionally authorize preservation of those lands or easements for park and recreational purposes, and would explicitly include, to the extent they are consistent with the purposes of the act, playgrounds, recreational venues, and preservation of historical resources as appropriate purposes. (2) Existing law prohibits the county from selling, exchanging, or otherwise acquiring replacement land or conservation easements unless and until the Board of Supervisors for the County of San Bernardino adopts a detailed land plan. Existing law requires the land plan to, among other things, identify each parcel of property acquired with grant funds and show the specific parcels the county will sell, exchange, purchase, or retain. Existing law requires the land plan to be approved by the Department of Parks and Recreation, as specified. Existing law authorizes the county to propose a plan to the department for the expenditure of any unexpended proceeds from the sale or exchange of land under the land plan for the acquisition of land or easements, or capital improvements to land or easements purchased with grant funds. This bill would eliminate the explicit authorization and procedures specifically applicable to the expenditure of the unexpended proceeds. Existing law authorizes the county to use all income generated from the properties it owns within the preserve that were purchased with grant funds, or that were acquired by exchange or purchase as authorized, except revenues from the sale or exchange of land, for the acquisition of additional replacement land within the preserve pursuant to the land plan or for the improvement, operation, and maintenance of existing or replacement land within the preserve. This bill would authorize the county to use the revenues from the sale or exchange of land for these purposes, and would specify new purposes for which that revenue, and all income generated from the properties the county owns within the preserve that were purchased with grant funds or that were acquired by exchange or purchase, may be used. The bill would prohibit the revenues and income from being granted to a private entity, except as provided. The bill would declare that these requirements are an amendment of the act within the meaning of Section 6 of the act and is consistent with the act.
Existing law establishes the Wildlife Conservation Board within the Department of Fish and Wildlife. Under existing law, the board administers various habitat conservation and restoration programs. This bill would require, upon appropriation by the Legislature, the sum of $21,500,000 to be allocated to the board for floodplain acquisition, habitat restoration, and associated conservation projects on floodplains in the Counties of Kern, Kings, and Tulare, as provided. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for Counties of Kern, Kings, and Tulare.
Existing law requires the Department of Transportation (Caltrans) , for any project on the state highway system in a connectivity area that adds a traffic lane or that has the potential to significantly impair wildlife connectivity, to perform an assessment, in consultation with the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) , to identify potential wildlife connectivity barriers and any needs for improved permeability, as specified. Existing law requires the implementing agency to remediate barriers to wildlife connectivity in conjunction with the project if any structural barrier to wildlife connectivity exists or will be added by the project for target species in the connectivity area, as provided. Existing law authorizes Caltrans to use compensatory mitigation credits to satisfy this requirement if DFW concurs with the use of those credits. This bill would require a lead agency to incorporate appropriate wildlife passage features into a transportation infrastructure project in a connectivity area, as specified. By requiring a lead agency to expand the scope of its transportation project, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would exempt a project on the state highway system from this requirement if Caltrans is the lead agency. The bill would authorize a lead agency to use compensatory mitigation credits to satisfy this requirement, as specified. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
The California Endangered Species Act prohibits the taking of an endangered, threatened, or candidate species, except as specified. Under the act, the Department of Fish and Wildlife (department) may authorize the take of listed species by certain entities through permits or memorandums of understanding for specified purposes. Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal to identify areas in the state as moderate, high, and very high fire hazard severity zones based on consistent statewide criteria and based on the severity of fire hazard that is expected to prevail in those areas. Existing law requires a local agency to designate, by ordinance, moderate, high, and very high fire hazard severity zones in its jurisdiction within 120 days of receiving recommendations from the State Fire Marshal, as provided. This bill would authorize a city, county, city and county, special district, or other local agency to submit to the department a wildfire preparedness plan to conduct wildfire preparedness activities on land designated as a fire hazard severity zone, as defined, that minimizes impacts to wildlife and habitat for candidate, threatened, and endangered species. The bill would require the wildfire preparedness plan to include, among other things, a brief description of the planned wildfire preparedness activities, the approximate dates for the activities, and a description of the candidate, endangered, and threatened species within the plan area. The bill would require the department to impose a fee on a local agency for the cost of reviewing a wildfire preparedness plan submitted by that local agency, as specified. The bill would require the department, if sufficient information is included in the wildfire preparedness plan for the department to determine if an incidental take permit is required, to notify the local agency within 90 days of receipt of the wildfire preparedness plan if an incidental take permit or other state permit is needed, or if there are other considerations, exemptions, or streamlined pathways that the wildfire preparedness activities qualify for, including, but not limited to, the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection's California Vegetation Treatment Program. The bill would require the department to provide the local agency, in its notification, with guidance that includes, among other things, a description of the candidate, endangered, and threatened species within the plan area and measures to avoid, minimize, and fully mitigate the take of the candidate, threatened, and endangered species, as provided. The bill would require the department, on or before July 1, 2026, to make a standard wildfire preparedness plan submission form publicly available on its internet website. The bill also would require the department, commencing January 1, 2027, to annually post on its internet website a summary of the wildfire preparedness plans submitted and include specified information in that summary.
The Cannella Environmental Farming Act of 1995 requires the Department of Food and Agriculture to establish and oversee various programs, including an environmental farming program and the Healthy Soils Program, and requires the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to convene a 9-member Scientific Advisory Panel on Environmental Farming to advise the secretary on the implementation of the Healthy Soils Program and the State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program and to assist federal, state, and local government agencies, as appropriate or necessary, on issues relating to the impact of agricultural practices on air, water, and wildlife habitat, as specified. Existing law creates the Climate Smart Agriculture Account in the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund, consisting of moneys made available from federal, state, industry, philanthropic, and private sources, and continuously appropriates the moneys in the account to the department for purposes of the act. This bill would, as part of the act, authorize the department, in consultation with the panel, to establish and oversee the Managed Honeybee Health Program for the purpose of enhancing the health and well-being of managed honeybees in California, which are necessary to support the economic viability of California agriculture. The bill would authorize the department, to the extent that moneys are available, to provide grants to eligible recipients for health intervention projects that directly enhance the health and well-being of managed honeybees used in pollination services and for projects that indirectly support health interventions through research, extension, and technical assistance. The bill would authorize the department to determine priorities for the program and to consider, when awarding grants, whether a project applicant or project meets specified criteria, in addition to criteria developed to address the program priorities. The bill would authorize the department to collect nonstate, federal, and private funds for the purpose of the program, require those funds to be deposited into the Managed Honeybee Health Special Fund Subaccount, which this bill would create within the Climate Smart Agriculture Account, and continuously appropriate moneys in the subaccount to the department for the purpose of the program. The bill would make operation of these provisions contingent upon an appropriation by the Legislature for the program in the annual Budget Act or another statute.
(1) Existing law, until January 1, 2030, generally prohibits a person from possessing, importing, shipping, or transporting in the state, or from placing, planting, or causing to be placed or planted in any water within the state, dreissenid mussels, and authorizes the Director of Fish and Wildlife or the director's designee to engage in various enforcement activities with regard to dreissenid mussels. Existing law requires any person, or federal, state, or local agency, district, or authority that owns or manages a reservoir, as defined, where recreational, boating, or fishing activities are permitted, except as specified, to develop and implement a program designed to prevent the introduction of nonnative dreissenid mussel species, as provided. Under existing law, except as otherwise provided, any violation of the Fish and Game Code, or of any rule, regulation, or order made or adopted under the code, is a crime. This bill would expand the scope of the above-described provisions relating to dreissenid mussels to instead apply to invasive mussels, defined to mean any nonnative detrimental mussel species, as provided. By expanding the scope of a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires a public or private agency that operates a water supply system to cooperate with the Department of Fish and Wildlife to implement measures to avoid infestation by dreissenid mussels and to control or eradicate any infestation that may occur in a water supply system, and, if dreissenid mussels are detected, to prepare and implement a plan, as specified, to control or eradicate dreissenid mussels within the system. Existing law requires any person or entity that manages any aspect of the water in a reservoir, as defined, where recreational, boating, or fishing activities are permitted, to be eligible to receive a grant for the reasonable regulatory costs incident to the implementation of a dreissenid mussel infestation prevention plan. This bill would instead apply the above-described provisions to invasive mussels, as defined. The bill would require the department to, on or before December 31, 2026, review all approved plans and require all plans that do not specifically address all invasive mussel species known to be present in bodies of water in the state as of January 1, 2026, to be updated or revised, as provided. The bill would require every invasive mussel species to be addressed in a plan within a specified timeframe. By expanding the scope of a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the department to either approve the plan or provide written comments and suggestions on plan review deficiencies, as provided. Existing law requires the owner of a vessel, as described, to register the vessel in accordance with prescribed requirements governing the registration and transfer of vessels. Existing law requires vessel registration to be renewed every 2-year period, as specified. Existing law establishes a registration fee and a renewal fee for vessels, and imposes an additional fee, known as the quagga and zebra mussel infestation prevention fee, in specified amounts, as determined by the Division of Boating and Waterways in the Department of Parks and Recreation, on a vessel required to pay the registration fee or renewal fee. Existing state regulations require the quagga and zebra mussel infestation prevention fee to be payable in specific instances of vessel registration or renewal. Existing law requires that all revenues collected from the quagga and zebra mussel prevention fee be deposited into the Harbors and Watercraft Revolving Fund created in the State Treasury, and, upon appropriation by the Legislature, expended for specified purposes. This bill would instead apply the above-described provisions to invasive mussels, as defined, including renaming the quagga and zebra mussel infestation prevention fee as the invasive mussel infestation prevention fee. The bill would, for invasive mussel infestation prevention fees due in the 2026 calendar year, and each year thereafter, increase the fee in specified amounts, and would require the amounts to be adjusted for inflation, as provided. Existing law authorizes a vessel operator to be issued a citation for operating a recreational vessel in nonmarine waters without a valid state-issued quagga and zebra mussel infestation prevention sticker. This bill would instead rename the quagga and zebra mussel infestation prevention sticker the invasive mussel infestation prevention sticker and would require the department to issue the sticker upon payment of the invasive mussel infestation prevention fee. (2) Existing law, the Farmer Equity Act of 2017, requires the Department of Food and Agriculture to ensure the inclusion of socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, as defined, in the development, adoption, implementation, and enforcement of food and agriculture laws, regulations, and policies and programs, as specified. This bill would require the department, in consultation with certain entities, to establish the Regional Farmer Equipment and Cooperative Resources Assistance Pilot Program as part of the Farmer Equity Act of 2017 to provide financial and technical assistance to support regional farm equipment sharing and enhance cooperative benefits for socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, with preference to be provided under the program in accordance with specified requirements. The bill would specify the entities eligible for financial assistance under the program and would require that applications for financial assistance to develop and expand equipment sharing programs include certain information. The bill would make the operation of the program contingent upon the Legislature making an appropriation for purposes of the program. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2030. (3) Existing law establishes in the Natural Resources Agency the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL-FIRE) under the control of an executive officer known as the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection. Existing law requires CAL-FIRE, in accordance with a plan approved by the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, to, among other things, provide fire prevention and firefighting implements, organize crews and patrols, and employ people to effect the plan. Existing law requires CAL-FIRE, subject to an appropriation of funds, to begin to employ sufficient permanent firefighting personnel to increase the base period hand crew staffing levels. This bill would instead require CAL-FIRE, subject to an appropriation of funds, to begin to employ sufficient permanent firefighting personnel to increase the base period staffing levels, without the limitation to hand crew staffing levels. (4) The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report on a project that the lead agency proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA exempts from its requirements activities or approvals necessary to the bidding for, hosting or staging of, and funding or carrying out of an Olympic Games under the authority of the International Olympic Committee, except for the construction of facilities necessary for the Olympic Games. This bill would revise the above-described exemption to exempt from CEQA activities or approvals for the bidding, hosting or staging of, and funding of an Olympic Games or a Paralympic Games under the authority of the International Olympic Committee or the International Paralympic Committee. The bill would also exempt from CEQA the construction of temporary facilities, as defined, for the 2028 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. The bill would require public notice of any confirmed changes to the location of competition venues of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, as specified. Because a lead agency would be required to determine whether a project qualifies for this exemption, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law, the California Coastal Act of 1976, among other things, requires anyone wishing to perform or undertake any development in the coastal zone, except as specified, in addition to obtaining any other permit required by law from any local government or from any state, regional, or local agency, to obtain a coastal development permit from the California Coastal Commission or a local government, as provided. The act provides that a coastal development permit is not required for specified types of development in specified areas, including, among other things, any proposed development that the executive director of the commission finds to be a temporary event that does not have any significant adverse impact on coastal resources, as provided. This bill would specify that all temporary development undertaken under the authority of the International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Committee, or the Los Angeles Organizing Committee for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games as part of hosting, staging, and carrying out the 2028 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games are considered temporary events and are exempt from the requirement to obtain a coastal development permit. The bill would require those temporary developments to avoid and minimize significant impacts to coastal resources to the extent feasible. The bill would specify that the exemption does not apply to development intended to last after December 31, 2028. The bill would be repealed by its own terms on January 1, 2029. To the extent this bill would create additional duties for a local government, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (5) The Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024 (act) , approved by the voters as Proposition 4 at the November 5, 2024, statewide general election, authorized the issuance of bonds in the amount of $10,000,000,000 pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law to finance projects for safe drinking water, drought, flood, and water resilience, wildfire and forest resilience, coastal resilience, extreme heat mitigation, biodiversity and nature-based climate solutions, climate-smart, sustainable, and resilient farms, ranches, and working lands, park creation and outdoor access, and clean air programs. Existing law, the Administrative Procedure Act, sets forth the requirements for the adoption, publication, review, and implementation of regulations by state agencies. This bill would authorize certain regulations needed to effectuate or implement the programs of the act to be adopted as emergency regulations in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act, as provided. The bill would require those emergency regulations to be filed with the Office of Administrative Law and would require the emergency regulation to remain in effect until repealed or amended by the adopting state agency. The act makes $135,000,000 available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for deposit into the California Ocean Protection Trust Fund for grants to increase resilience from the impacts of climate change, as specified. This bill would instead make those funds available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the Ocean Protection Council for those purposes. The act requires $20,000,000, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to be deposited into the Invasive Species Account for purposes of funding invasive species projects and activities recommended by the Invasive Species Council of California, as specified. This bill would instead make those funds available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the Department of Food and Agriculture for those purposes. The act makes $870,000,000 available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the Wildlife Conservation Board for grant programs to protect and enhance fish and wildlife resources and habitat and achieve the state's biodiversity, public access, and conservation goals, as provided. This bill would appropriate the sum of $20,000,000, pursuant to the above provision, from the Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Fund to the Wildlife Conservation Board to be granted to the Department of Fish and Wildlife for the 2025–26 fiscal year to address invasive mussel infestations, including the golden mussel. (6) This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the 2028 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. (7) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 21080 of the Public Resources Code proposed by AB 1156 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1156 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (8) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. (9) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.
(1) Existing law, the Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act, prohibits any person or public agency from importing into the state, exporting out of the state, or taking, possessing, purchasing, or selling within the state, a western Joshua tree or any part or product of the tree, except as provided. Under existing law, the Department of Fish and Wildlife may authorize, by permit, the taking of a western Joshua tree if certain conditions are met, including, among other conditions, that the permittee mitigates all impacts to, and the taking of, the western Joshua tree. Existing law authorizes the department to enter into an agreement with any county or city to delegate to the county or city the ability to authorize the taking of a western Joshua tree associated with developing single-family residences, multifamily residences, accessory structures, and public works projects concurrent with its approval of the project if certain conditions are met. Existing law authorizes any person or public agency receiving a take authorization for a project to pay specified fees in lieu of satisfying the mitigation obligation on several bases, including if the project receives a permit issued by a county or city. This bill would additionally authorize the department to enter into an agreement with any city to delegate to the city the ability to authorize the taking of western Joshua trees associated with developing commercial and industrial projects. The bill would, relative to other project types subject to delegated local mitigation authority, limit the bases for commercial or industrial projects to pay specified fees in lieu of satisfying the mitigation obligation, as provided. (2) Existing law authorizes the department to issue a permit to authorize either the removal or trimming of a dead western Joshua tree or the trimming of a live western Joshua tree. This bill would remove the reference to a dead or live western Joshua tree, thereby authorizing the department to issue a permit to authorize either the removal or trimming of any western Joshua tree. Existing law authorizes the department to issue a permit for these purposes, without the payment of fees or other mitigation, provided that a dead western Joshua tree or any limbs to be removed meet at least one of a specified list of conditions. This bill would revise and recast this provision to instead authorize the department to issue a permit, without the payment of fees or other mitigation, if either the western Joshua tree is located within 100 feet of an existing single-family home and any associated accessory structure or that removal or trimming is necessary for the homeowner to meet defensible space requirements, as provided.
Existing law establishes the California Rangeland, Grazing Land, and Grassland Protection Program to protect California's rangeland, grazing land, and grasslands through the use of conservation easements, for specified purposes. Existing law authorizes, under the program, funds to be expended by the Wildlife Conservation Board for the acquisition of conservation easements over qualified property, as defined, and authorizes the board to make grants of funds to a state agency, local public agency, or nonprofit organization for the acquisition of conservation easements over qualified property. The Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024, approved by the voters as Proposition 4 at the November 5, 2024, statewide general election, authorized the issuance of bonds in the amount of $10,000,000,000 pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law to finance projects for safe drinking water, drought, flood, and water resilience, wildfire and forest resilience, coastal resilience, extreme heat mitigation, biodiversity and nature-based climate solutions, climate-smart, sustainable, and resilient farms, ranches, and working lands, park creation and outdoor access, and clean air programs. The act makes available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, $870,000,000 to the board for grant programs to protect and enhance fish and wildlife resources and habitat and achieve the state's biodiversity, public access, and conservation goals. This bill would appropriate, from the above-described bond funds made available to the board, $400,000,000 to the board to award under the program as grants to eligible entities, as defined, to acquire conservation easements on qualified property that is privately owned and supports the production of food and fiber and ecosystem services, including, but not limited to, wildfire fuel reduction, groundwater recharge, wildlife habitat, and open vistas. The bill would require the board to disburse the funds to grantees through grant agreements on or before June 30, 2028, and to allocate the funds to eligible entities across the state in a specified manner. The bill would require, on or before June 30, 2029, a grantee to expend the grant funds to acquire a conservation easement and record the conservation easement. The bill would authorize the board to partner with, and receive funds from, land trusts that are certified by the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, as provided.
The California Endangered Species Act prohibits the take of an endangered, threatened, or candidate species, except as specified. Under the act, the Department of Fish and Wildlife may authorize the take of listed species by certain entities through permits or memorandums of understanding for specified purposes. The act allows take of an endangered, threatened, or candidate species by permit if, among other things, the impact of the authorized take is minimized and fully mitigated. This bill would also allow the department to authorize by permit the take of a species proposed for listing, as defined, if specified conditions are met. The bill would provide that if a species proposed for listing becomes listed as an endangered, threatened, or candidate species, further authorization or approval shall not be required for a take of that species, if specified conditions are met, including that the species proposed for listing was included as a covered species in a permit previously issued by the department for incidental take and that the incidental take is caused by a renewable electrical generation facility. The bill would require the department to, on or before January 31, 2033, compile and post a summary table on its internet website with specified information for calendar years 2027 to 2032, inclusive.
