Proposition 117, an initiative measure approved by the electors at the June 5, 1990, direct primary election, enacted the California Wildlife Protection Act of 1990. The act creates the Habitat Conservation Fund and requires the moneys in the fund to be used for specified purposes generally relating to the acquisition, enhancement, or restoration of wildlife habitat. The act requires the Controller, until June 30, 2020, to annually transfer $30,000,000 from the General Fund to the Habitat Conservation Fund, less any amount transferred to the Habitat Conservation Fund from specified accounts and funds. The act, until July 1, 2020, continuously appropriates specified amounts from the Habitat Conservation Fund to the Department of Parks and Recreation, the State Coastal Conservancy, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, and the California Tahoe Conservancy, and continuously appropriates the balance of the fund to the Wildlife Conservation Board. Chapter 31 of the Statutes of 2019 requires the Controller to continue to annually transfer $30,000,000 from the General Fund, less any amount transferred to the Habitat Conservation Fund from specified accounts and funds, to the Habitat Conservation Fund until June 30, 2030, and continuously appropriates that amount on an annual basis in the same proportions to the specified entities until July 1, 2030. This bill would require the Controller to continue to annually transfer $30,000,000 from the General Fund, less any amount transferred to the Habitat Conservation Fund from specified accounts and funds, to the Habitat Conservation Fund until June 30, 2035, and would continuously appropriate that amount on an annual basis in the same proportions to the specified entities described above until July 1, 2035.
Existing law, the Cannella Environmental Farming Act of 1995, requires the Department of Food and Agriculture to establish and oversee an environmental farming program to provide incentives to farmers whose practices promote the well-being of ecosystems, air quality, and wildlife and their habitat. Existing law establishes the Climate Smart Agriculture Account, the moneys in which are continuously appropriated for purposes of the act. This bill would instead require the department to establish and oversee a sustainable agriculture program to provide research, technical assistance, and incentive grants to promote agricultural practices that support climate resilience for farms and ranches and the well-being of ecosystems, air quality, and biodiversity. By expanding the purposes for which moneys in a continuously appropriated fund may be used, the bill would make an appropriation. The act requires the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to convene a 9-member Scientific Advisory Panel on Environmental Farming, as prescribed, for the purpose of providing advice to the secretary on the implementation of the Healthy Soils Program and the State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program and assistance to federal, state, and local government agencies on issues relating to the impact of agricultural practices on air, water, and wildlife habitat, as specified. Existing law requires members of the panel to be highly qualified and professionally active or engaged in the conduct of scientific research and provides for their appointment for terms of 3 years. This bill would rename the Scientific Advisory Panel on Environmental Farming the Scientific Advisory Panel on Resilient and Sustainable Agriculture for the purpose of providing advice to the secretary on the implementation of research, incentive, and technical assistance grant programs for sustainable agriculture. The bill would expand the panel from 9 members to 11 members, would require the panel to consist of members of the public that represent scientific expertise in sustainable agriculture and members of state agencies that represent expertise in programs and policies related to agriculture, and would limit the members of the panel to 2 terms. The act establishes the Climate Smart Agriculture Technical Assistance Grant Program to provide funds to technical assistance providers to provide technical assistance, as defined, to applicants of the Healthy Soils Program, the Alternative Manure Management Program, and the State Water Efficiency and Enhancement Program. Existing law requires the secretary to make available not less than 5% of the funds appropriated to the department for those programs, but not more than 20%, for providing technical assistance, as specified, and for supporting annual information sharing among technical assistance providers, the department, and other relevant stakeholders, as specified. This bill would expand the definition of "technical assistance" to include, among other things, training, conservation, agricultural planning, and grant writing. The bill would delete the provision establishing the Climate Smart Agriculture Technical Assistance Grant Program and would instead require the secretary to make available not less than 5%, but not more than 20%, of the funds appropriated to the department for the above-described programs, for providing technical assistance directly through a technical assistance grant program, or indirectly through a block grant program that includes funding for technical assistance. The bill would require the department to provide funds to technical assistance providers to: (1) support farmers and ranchers in the application process for grants from those programs and the implementation of funded projects; (2) provide general planning and training for climate-smart and sustainable agriculture; and (3) lease, purchase, or repair farming, ranching, and food processing equipment that can be centrally housed with the technical assistance provider and shared regionally with producers. This bill would require the department to authorize a percentage of funding to support training and capacity building within technical assistance provider organizations and coordination between organizations to improve assistance, as provided, and would require the department to support information sharing among technical assistance providers, the department, and other relevant stakeholders, as specified. The bill would require the department to allow equipment sharing costs funded as part of the grant awards to include developing and expanding equipment sharing programs, as specified.
Existing law requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, in accordance with policies established by the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, to assist local governments in preventing future high-intensity wildland fires and instituting appropriate fuels management by making its wildland fire prevention and vegetation management expertise available to local governments, as provided. This bill would define an environmentally sensitive vegetation management project to mean vegetation management that reduces catastrophic wildfire risk over the long term while supporting native wildlife and biodiversity. The bill would require a state public entity to consider incorporating specified criteria into its funding guidelines for a grant program that funds environmentally sensitive vegetation management projects.
(1) Existing law prohibits a conservation bank, mitigation bank, or conservation and mitigation bank from being operative, vested, or final unless the Department of Fish and Wildlife has approved the bank in writing and, if applicable, a conservation easement has been recorded on the site. Existing law requires a person interested in establishing any bank with the department to submit a bank prospectus to the department, as specified, and if the department determines the bank prospectus is acceptable, allows the person to submit a bank agreement package that, among other things, is required to contain estimates of financial assurances and proposed forms of security, as specified. This bill would authorize surety bonds to be proposed forms of security for the above purposes. (2) Existing law requires all funds derived from the sale of state duck hunting validations and state duck stamps, and related items, to be deposited into the State Duck Stamp Account in the Fish and Game Preservation Fund, as provided. Existing law requires the funds in the account to be used for projects or endowments approved by the Fish and Game Commission for the purpose of protecting, preserving, restoring, enhancing, and developing migratory waterfowl breeding and wintering habitat, evaluating habitat projects, and conducting waterfowl resource assessments and other waterfowl-related research. Existing law authorizes the Department of Fish and Wildlife to enter into contracts or grant funds for fish and wildlife habitat preservation, restoration, and enhancement with public and private entities whenever the department finds that the contract will assist in meeting the department's duty to preserve, protect, and restore fish and wildlife. This bill would require that the department be subject to the above-described provisions in making grants or entering into agreements pursuant to the State Duck Stamp Account, as provided. (3) Existing law, the Water Conservation District Law of 1931, authorizes a water conservation district to be organized and established by a county board of supervisors, with specified powers and purposes. The law permits a water conservation district to levy groundwater charges and requires a district to annually make an engineering investigation and report on groundwater conditions of the district that includes, among other things, an estimate of the annual overdraft for the current water year and for the ensuing water year. Existing law defines "water year" for purposes of these provisions to mean July 1 of one calendar year to June 30 of the following calendar year. This bill would redefine "water year" to mean the period beginning October 1 of one calendar year and ending September 30 of the following calendar year for purposes of the above-described provisions. (4) Existing law authorizes the Department of Parks and Recreation to enter into contracts with natural persons, corporations, partnerships, and associations for the construction, maintenance, and operation of concessions within units of the state park system. Existing law requires all contracts authorizing occupancy of any portion of the state park system for a period of more than 3 years to be awarded to the best responsible bidder. Existing law requires public notice to be given to bidders of all proposed contracts authorizing the occupancy of property in the state park system for a period of more than 2 years, as specified, including requiring the department to publish an advertisement for bid at least once per week for 2 consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the concession is to operate and in a major daily newspaper in the closest metropolitan area. This bill would instead require public notice to bidders to be given of all proposed contracts authorizing the occupancy of property in the state park system for a period of more than 3 years, as specified. The bill would delete the requirement that the department publish an advertisement in a newspaper, as described above. Existing law requires a concession contract to contain certain provisions, including the provision that every concessionaire submit to the department all sales and use tax returns and, at the request of the department, provide an annual financial statement prepared or audited by a certified public accountant. This bill would instead require every concessionaire to submit to the department an annual financial statement prepared or audited by a certified public accountant. (5) This bill would make corresponding changes and changes to update obsolete place names and would make other nonsubstantive changes, including by repealing obsolete laws.
Existing law makes it unlawful to take a bird, mammal, fish, reptile, or amphibian, except as authorized by law. This bill would make it unlawful for a person in California to import, cause to be imported, export, cause to be exported, transport, sell, offer for sale, possess with the intent to sell, receive, acquire, or purchase any fish, wildlife, or plant that was taken, possessed, transported, or sold in violation of any law or statute of any state or any law, treaty, or statute of the United States with regard to fish, wildlife, or plants in effect on January 19, 2025. The bill would, upon conviction or other entry of judgment, require any seized evidence be forfeited, as specified. The bill would make these provisions inoperative on December 31, 2031, and would repeal them on January 1, 2032. Under existing law, a violation of the Fish and Game Code is a crime. Because the above provision would be part of the Fish and Game Code, a violation of which would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Endangered Species Act (CESA) requires the Fish and Game Commission to establish a list of endangered species and a list of threatened species pursuant to a prescribed listing process, and generally prohibits the taking of those species. Existing law requires the commission to publish a notice in the California Regulatory Notice Register upon receipt of a petition to add or remove a species from either the list of endangered species or the list of threatened species by the Department of Fish and Wildlife. This bill would require the department to determine if there is a decrease in protections by the federal government for an endangered or threatened species, as defined, and, if so, would require the department to publish written findings in the California Regulatory Notice Register that would add the species to the commission's list of provisional candidate species, as specified. The bill would require the department to report the provisional candidacy determination at the next public meeting of the commission. The bill would prohibit criminal or civil liability for an entity operating under federal authorization for take, as specified, as long as the entities are in full compliance with their federal biological opinion. The bill would make these provisions inoperative on December 31, 2031, and would repeal them on January 1, 2032. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
