This bill is a commemorative resolution that proclaims September 4, 2026, as California Wildlife Day in honor of Jackie, a famous bald eagle who recently passed away. The text highlights the ecological diversity of California and the public's emotional connection to Jackie, whose life was broadcast via webcam for years. It encourages residents across the state to celebrate the day by reflecting on wildlife conservation and the importance of protecting natural heritage.
Existing law authorizes various conservancies to acquire, manage, direct the management of, and conserve lands in the state. This bill, upon appropriation by the Legislature or approval of a general obligation bond, as provided, would establish the Huron Hawk Conservancy within the Natural Resources Agency for specified purposes related to the Huron Hawk area, as defined, including to acquire and manage public lands within the Huron Hawk area and to provide recreational, open space, wildlife habitat restoration and protection, and lands for educational uses within the area. The bill would require the conservancy to be governed by a board of directors composed of designated membership, including certain members appointed by certain local agencies. The bill would set forth the powers, duties, and limitations of the board of directors and the conservancy, as provided. The bill would create the Huron Hawk Conservancy Fund and would make moneys in the fund available for expenditure by the conservancy, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purposes of these provisions. The bill would authorize the conservancy to accept revenue generated and contributed to the conservancy by member agencies, as defined, which the bill would require to be deposited into the fund. The bill would also authorize the conservancy to accept revenue, money, grants, goods, and services contributed to the conservancy by a public agency, private entity, or person, and would require the revenue, money, and grants to be deposited into the fund. By imposing new duties on local agencies, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. 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.
(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, invasive mussels, as defined. Existing law requires a public or private agency that operates a water supply system to cooperate with the Department of Fish and Wildlife (department) to implement measures to avoid infestation by invasive mussels and to control or eradicate any infestation that may occur in a water supply system, and, if invasive mussels are detected, to prepare and implement a plan, as specified, to control or eradicate invasive mussels within the system (control plan) . Existing law prohibits the importation, transportation, possession, or live release of specified wild animals, except under a revocable, nontransferable permit, known as a restricted species permit, issued by the department, in cooperation with the Department of Food and Agriculture, and only if certain requirements are met. This bill would exempt from the requirement to obtain a restricted species permit for invasive mussels a public or private agency that operates a water supply system and has submitted a control plan to the department for maintenance, operational, and research activities within the water supply system, as specified. The bill would exempt from the requirement to obtain a restricted species permit for dead invasive mussels a public or private agency that operates a water supply system and has submitted a control plan to the department for research, outreach, education, species verification, training, or other purposes deemed by the department to be in the best interest of the state. The bill would provide that these exemptions remain in effect for a particular public or private agency until the department determines the agency's control plan does not meet the statutory requirements for control plans or approves the control plan. This bill would require the department's Invasive Species Program to develop, by April 1, 2027, voluntary guidance for public and private agencies that operate water supply systems to develop effective control plans. The bill would also require the department's Invasive Species Program to develop and publish, by April 1, 2027, guidance for scientific research conducted by or for public and private agencies that operate water supply systems to prevent and control the spread of invasive mussels, as specified. This bill would require the department to update the spatial distribution maps of invasive mussel-infested water bodies posted on its internet website no less than quarterly based on monitoring and reported detections, as prescribed. (2) Existing law requires every manufacturer of, importer of, or dealer in any pesticide, except as specified, to obtain a certificate of registration from the Department of Pesticide Regulation before the pesticide is offered for sale. Existing law requires the Director of Pesticide Regulation to endeavor to eliminate from use in the state specified pesticides, and in carrying out this responsibility, to develop an orderly program for the continuous evaluation of all pesticides actually registered, as specified. Under existing law, the State Water Resources Control Board and the 9 California regional water quality control boards regulate water quality and prescribe waste discharge requirements in accordance with the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act and the national pollutant discharge elimination system permit program. This bill would require, in response to an invasive species threat, including, but not limited to, the threat of golden mussels, the department, state board, and regional boards to work with state and local agencies in order to quickly and efficiently respond to the threat. The bill would require the department and state board to identify any tools available to assist a state or local agency in rapidly responding to the invasive species threat and to help identify any existing processes that allow for the rapid use of any tool that could be used to address the invasive species threat and enables a streamlined or faster administrative or procedural process. The bill would require the state board, if necessary, to help coordinate efforts between the regional boards in response to a threat of an invasive species. (3) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
(1) Existing law establishes a registration fee and a renewal fee for vessels, and imposes an additional fee, known as the invasive mussel infestation prevention fee, on a vessel required to pay the registration fee or renewal fee, as provided. Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue a vessel an invasive mussel infestation prevention sticker to the vessel owner upon payment of the invasive mussel infestation prevention fee. Existing law authorizes a vessel operator to be issued a citation for operating a vessel or a recreational vessel in nonmarine waters without a valid state-issued invasive mussel infestation prevention sticker. This bill would exempt from that provision relating to citations a person who operates a vessel or recreational vessel on the waters of Lake Tahoe or Topaz Lake if the vessel is registered in the State of Nevada, the State of Nevada has a program in effect for the management of aquatic invasive species, and the vessel displays a current aquatic invasive species decal issued by the State of Nevada. (2) The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act requires the Department of Water Resources to categorize each groundwater basin as high-, medium-, low-, or very low priority, as specified. Existing law requires all groundwater basins designated as high- or medium-priority basins by the department to be managed under a groundwater sustainability plan or coordinated groundwater sustainability plans. The act requires that, any time the department updates certain water basin boundaries pursuant to a specified provision, the department reassess the prioritization of basins, as prescribed. This bill would instead require the department, any time the department updates those boundaries, to reassess the prioritization of groundwater basins for which boundary changes have been made, and would require the department on or before January 1, 2035, and not less than every 10 years thereafter, to review, and determine, whether a reprioritization of all groundwater basins is warranted. (3) This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes. (4) This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for Lake Tahoe and Topaz Lake.
Existing law establishes the Department of Fish and Wildlife in the Natural Resources Agency. Under existing law, the department has jurisdiction over the conservation, protection, and management of fish, wildlife, native plants, and habitat necessary for biologically sustainable populations of those species. This bill would require the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to establish the Wildlife Coexistence Program to manage and promote wildlife coexistence by conducting specified activities, including maintaining a statewide wildlife incident reporting tool. The bill would rename the Wolf-Livestock Compensation Pilot Program to the California Wolf-Livestock Coexistence and Compensation Program and would require the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to establish the program to provide resources to eligible participants for purposes relating to wolves and livestock. The bill would authorize the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, including the cost for implementation, to provide resources to wildlife coexistence partners, as defined, to support efforts required for the Wildlife Coexistence Program and the California Wolf-Livestock Coexistence and Compensation Program. The bill would require the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to establish the Wildlife Coexistence Technical Advisory Committee to provide technical guidance, public input, and programmatic recommendations related to the department's wildlife coexistence efforts. The bill would require the department, on or before July 1, 2028, to include specified information on its internet website, as provided. The California Endangered Species Act prohibits the taking of an endangered or threatened species, except as specified. Under existing law, it is also unlawful to permit or allow any dog to pursue any big game mammal during the closed season on that mammal, to pursue any fully protected, rare, or endangered mammal at any time, to pursue any bear or bobcat at any time, or to pursue any mammal in a game refuge or ecological reserve if hunting within that refuge or ecological reserve is unlawful. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding those prohibitions, the pursuit of wolves by dogs that are guarding or protecting livestock or crops on property owned, leased, or rented by the owner of the dogs, is not prohibited if the dogs are maintained with, and remain in reasonable proximity to, the livestock or crops being guarded or protected.
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, invasive mussels, and authorizes the Director of Fish and Wildlife, or the director's designee, to engage in various enforcement activities with regard to invasive mussels. Existing law, until January 1, 2030, 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 invasive mussels and to control or eradicate any infestation that occurs in a water supply system. Existing law requires any person, or federal, state, or local agency, district, or authority that owns or manages a reservoir, where specified activities are permitted, except as specified, to develop and implement a program designed to prevent the introduction of invasive mussel species, as provided. Existing law requires any entity that discovers invasive mussels within the state to immediately report the discovery to the department. This bill would prohibit a public agency from prohibiting imported water deliveries for groundwater replenishment, as defined, due to invasive mussels if the importation complies with a specified invasive mussel control plan and unless there is substantial, documented evidence of a proven health and safety risk as a result of the invasive mussels. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities and counties, including charter cities and charter counties.
The Habitat Restoration and Enhancement Act authorizes a project proponent to submit a habitat restoration or enhancement project to the Director of Fish and Wildlife for approval. The act requires the Department of Fish and Wildlife to assess an application fee for a project submitted to the department consistent with specified fees adopted by the department, as provided. Under the act, a habitat restoration or enhancement project is defined as a project with the primary purpose of improving fish and wildlife habitat. The act requires the director to approve a habitat restoration or enhancement project if the director determines that specified conditions are met. The act makes moneys in the Habitat Restoration and Enhancement Account available to the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purposes of administering and implementing the act. Existing law repeals the act on January 1, 2027. This bill would extend the operation of the act until January 1, 2032, and would require the department to submit a report on the implementation of the act to the Legislature no later than December 31, 2029. The bill would maintain the requirement for the application fee to be consistent with other specified fees adopted by the department until the department establishes, on or before January 1, 2030, an application fee schedule, as specified. The bill would revise the definition of a habitat restoration or enhancement project, would revise the required contents of an application for a habitat restoration or enhancement project, as provided, and would transfer the responsibilities of the director under the act to the department. Under the act, the approval of a habitat restoration or enhancement project is in lieu of any other permit, agreement, license, or other approval issued by the Department of Fish and Wildlife. This bill would provide that the department's approval of a habitat restoration or enhancement project under the act only includes take authorization for the species listed by the project proponent in its application. The bill would require the department to ensure that each approved habitat restoration or enhancement project includes appropriate measures to avoid and minimize its adverse impacts to species protected by state law. The act establishes separate procedures for the approval of a habitat restoration or enhancement project depending on whether the project has received a specified certification pursuant to an order from the State Water Resources Control Board. As part of the procedures applicable to a project that has received that certification, the act requires the director to publish the receipt of certain information from the project proponent, and the director's determination on whether the application is complete, in the California Regulatory Notice Register. This bill would eliminate the requirement to publish that information in the California Regulatory Notice Register. The act requires the director to suspend the implementation of a project under certain circumstances, as specified. This bill would eliminate those provisions.
Existing law requires the Department of Fish and Wildlife to require the purchase of an entry permit for nonconsumptive uses of department-managed lands if the department finds that it is practical and would be cost effective for the state to collect entry permit fees, and imposes specified requirements if the department does so, including requiring the department to use the Automated License Data System to sell that entry permit. Existing law authorizes the department to lease department-managed lands for agricultural activities if certain conditions are met and requires money collected from the lease of these lands to be deposited by the department into the Wildlife Restoration Fund or the Fish and Game Preservation Fund, and authorizes the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to use the funds to support the management, maintenance, restoration, and operations of department-managed lands. This bill would require the department to use the Automated License Data System to sell an entry permit for consumptive use and would authorize the department to use the Automated License Data System to sell an entry permit for nonconsumptive use if the department requires the purchase of an entry permit for nonconsumptive uses of department-managed lands, as described above. The bill would require, upon appropriation by the Legislature, the above-described agricultural lease funds to be used by the department to support the management, maintenance, restoration, and operations of department-managed lands. Existing law requires the department to annually provide an opportunity for licensed hunters to comment and make recommendations on public hunting programs, including anticipated habitat conditions in hunting areas on Type A and Type B Wildlife Areas, as provided. This bill would add wetland floodup to the topics that the department is required to provide an opportunity for comment and recommendation on as described above. This bill would create the Waterfowl Management Areas Operations and Maintenance Fund in the State Treasury and would require all revenues generated from the sale of waterfowl hunting reservation applications and daily and season long entry passes from Type A and Type B Wildlife Areas to be deposited into the fund. The bill would require the department to, upon appropriation by the Legislature, expend those revenues for the operation and maintenance of, and the reasonable administrative costs directly related to, the public hunting programs for Type A and Type B Wildlife Areas. The bill would require the department to, on or before October 1, 2033, prepare and submit a report to the appropriate policy and budget committees of the Legislature, as specified.
Existing law makes it a misdemeanor to import into the state for commercial purposes, to possess with intent to sell, or to sell within the state the dead body, or a part or product thereof, of a polar bear, leopard, ocelot, tiger, cheetah, jaguar, sable antelope, wolf, zebra, whale, cobra, python, sea turtle, colobus monkey, kangaroo, vicuna, sea otter, free-roaming feral horse, dolphin or porpoise, Spanish lynx, or elephant. This bill would exempt from that prohibition the import into the state for commercial purposes, possession with intent to sell, or sale within the state of kangaroos if they are harvested in accordance with Australian law, the federal Endangered Species Act, and applicable international conventions, as specified.
Existing law requires the Office of the State Fire Marshal to develop and make available on its internet website a Wildland-Urban Interface Fire Safety Building Standards Compliance training intended for use in the training of local building officials, builders, and fire service personnel, as specified. Existing law authorizes the Office of the State Fire Marshal to allow certification of contractors who conduct defensible space, home hardening, fuel reduction, roadside clearance, and other contracting activities for wildlife resiliency efforts and who have completed specified training programs. Existing law requires the Office of the State Fire Marshal to develop and update a Wildland-Urban Interface Products listing of products and construction assemblies that comply with prescribed regulations regarding building in a wildland-urban interface area. Existing law authorizes the Office of the State Fire Marshal to expend funds from the Building Standards Administration Special Revolving Fund, upon an appropriation by the Legislature, for the purposes of researching and developing the products listing and the educational and training provisions. Existing law requires the Office of the State Fire Marshal to establish the State Fire Marshal's Wildfire Mitigation Advisory Committee. This bill would require, on or before January 1, 2028, the State Fire Marshal's Wildfire Mitigation Advisory Committee to develop an implementation plan for a home hardening certification program that identifies home hardening measures, including defensible space, that can be voluntarily implemented during renovation or property improvement projects, or both, to substantially reduce the risk of loss during a fire and bring existing building stock into alignment with state building standards for wildland-urban interface areas. The bill would require the committee, in developing the implementation plan for the home hardening certification program, to provide specified recommendations. The bill would authorize the Office of the State Fire Marshal to expend funds from the Building Standards Administration Special Revolving Fund, upon an appropriation by the Legislature, for the purposes of developing the implementation plan for the home hardening certification program. The bill would require the committee, on or before January 1, 2028, to provide a report to specified legislative committees on its findings and recommendations pursuant to these provisions. The bill would require, on or before January 1, 2029, the State Fire Marshal to establish the home hardening certification program based on the recommendations made by the Wildfire Mitigation Advisory Committee.
