BILL NUMBER: AB 1929 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Hall
FEBRUARY 17, 2010
An act to amend Section 2301 of the Fish and Game Code, relating
to invasive aquatic species.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1929, as introduced, Hall. Invasive aquatic species: mussels.
Existing law, until January 1, 2012, 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 Game or his or her designee to engage in various
enforcement activities. Existing law exempts a public or private
agency that operates a water supply system from those enforcement
activities, if the operator of the facilities has prepared and
implemented a prescribed plan to control or eradicate dreissenid
mussels.
Existing law provides that a person who violates or resists,
delays, obstructs, or interferes with the implementation of these
provisions is subject to a penalty, in an amount not to exceed
$1,000, that is imposed administratively by the department.
This bill would provide that an operator of water delivery and
storage facilities, who has prepared, initiated, and is in compliance
with a plan to control and eradicate dreissenid mussels in
accordance with the above existing provisions of law, would not be
subject to any civil or criminal liability for the introduction of
dreissenid mussel species as a result of operations of those
facilities. The bill would provide that neither the director's
enforcement activities, nor the prohibition on a person possessing,
importing, shipping, or transporting dreissenid mussels in the state
would apply to an operator who has prepared, initiated, and is in
compliance with a plan to control and eradicate dreissenid mussels,
unless the department had required the operator to update its plan
and the operator failed to do so.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) Quagga mussels, related to zebra mussels in the genus
Dreissena, are native to the Black and Caspian Seas of Eastern
Europe.
(b) Both zebra and quagga mussels appeared in the Great Lakes of
the United States in the late 1980s, apparently brought to this
country in the ballast water of transoceanic ships.
(c) Quagga mussels can reproduce quickly. Up to forty thousand
(40,000) quagga mussels can colonize within one square meter. The
mussels damage water supply infrastructure by clogging pipes and
pumping equipment. In addition, the mussels outcompete other species
for food and with their large numbers can overwhelm native
ecosystems.
(d) While California mandates that water system operators manage
their reservoirs and delivery systems to prevent and control mussel
infestations, complete eradication of quagga mussels in any infested
large water body is unlikely. Eradication efforts in the American
Midwest have failed.
(e) Given that eradication from large water bodies is physically
impossible and that water delivery systems are essential to maintain
public health and safety, the Legislature finds that implementation
of the available measures to control mussel infestations and prevent
the spread of the mussels to new water bodies is the most that can
reasonably be required of water supply agencies.
(f) Compliance with current legal requirements for mussel
monitoring and management plans in water supply systems are
sufficient to protect agencies from unlimited liability for dealing
with the consequences of this invasive species.
SEC. 2. Section 2301 of the Fish and Game Code is amended to read:
2301. (a) (1) Except as authorized by the department, a person
shall not possess, import, ship, or transport in the state, or place,
plant, or cause to be placed or planted in any water within the
state, dreissenid mussels.
(2) The director or his or her designee may do all of the
following:
(A) Conduct inspections of conveyances, which include vehicles,
boats and other watercraft, containers, and trailers, that may carry
or contain adult or larval dreissenid mussels. Included as part of
this authority to conduct inspections is the authority to temporarily
stop conveyances that may carry or contain adult or larval
dreissenid mussels on any roadway or waterway in order to conduct
inspections.
(B) Order that areas in a conveyance that contain water be
drained, dried, or decontaminated pursuant to procedures approved by
the department.
(C) Impound or quarantine conveyances in locations designated by
the department for up to five days or the period of time necessary to
ensure that dreissenid mussels can no longer live on or in the
conveyance.
(D) (i) Conduct inspections of waters of the state and facilities
located within waters of the state that may contain dreissenid
mussels. If dreissenid mussels are detected or may be present, the
director or his or her designee may order the affected waters or
facilities closed to conveyances or otherwise restrict access to the
affected waters or facilities, and shall order that conveyances
removed from, or introduced to, the affected waters or facilities be
inspected, quarantined, or disinfected in a manner and for a duration
necessary to detect and prevent the spread of dreissenid mussels
within the state.
(ii) For the purpose of implementing clause (i), the director or
his or her designee shall order the closure or quarantine of, or
restrict access to, these waters, areas, or facilities in a manner
and duration necessary to detect and prevent the spread of dreissenid
mussels within the state. No closure, quarantine, or restriction
shall be authorized by the director or his or her designee without
the concurrence of the Secretary of the Natural Resources
Agency. If a closure lasts longer than seven days, the department
shall update the operator of the affected facility every 10 days on
efforts to address the dreissenid infestation. The department shall
provide these updates in writing and also post these updates on the
department's Internet Web site in an easily accessible manner.
(iii) The department shall develop procedures to ensure proper
notification of affected local and federal agencies, and, as
appropriate, the Department of Boating and Waterways, the Department
of Water Resources, the Department of Parks and Recreation, and the
State Lands Commission in the event of a decision to close,
quarantine, or restrict a facility pursuant to this paragraph. These
procedures shall include the reasons for the closure, quarantine, or
restriction, and methods for providing updated information to those
affected. These procedures shall also include protocols for the
posting of the notifications on the department's Internet Web site
required by clause (ii).
(iv) When deciding the scope, duration, level, and type of
restrictions, and specific location of a closure or quarantine, the
director shall consult with the agency, entity, owner, or operator
with jurisdiction, control, or management responsibility over the
marina, boat launch facility, or other facility, in order to focus
the closure or quarantine to specific areas and facilities so as to
avoid or minimize disruption of economic or recreational activity in
the vicinity.
(b) (1) Upon a determination by the director that it would further
the purposes of this section, other state agencies, including, but
not limited to, the Department of Parks and Recreation, the
Department of Water Resources, the Department of Food and
Agriculture, and the State Lands Commission, may exercise the
authority granted to the department in subdivision (a).
(2) A determination made pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be in
writing and shall remain in effect until withdrawn, in writing, by
the director.
(c) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), Division 13
(commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code does not
apply to the implementation of this section.
(2) An action undertaken pursuant to subparagraph (B) of paragraph
(2) of subdivision (a) involving the use of chemicals other than
salt or hot water to decontaminate a conveyance or a facility is
subject to Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public
Resources Code.
(d) (1) A public or private agency that operates a water supply
system shall cooperate with the department to implement measures to
avoid infestation by dreissenid mussels and to control or eradicate
any infestation that may occur in a water supply system. If
dreissenid mussels are detected, the operator of the water supply
system, in cooperation with the department, shall prepare and
implement a plan to control or eradicate dreissenid mussels within
the system. The approved plan shall contain the following minimum
elements:
(A) Methods for delineation of infestation, including both adult
mussels and veligers.
(B) Methods for control or eradication of adult mussels and
decontamination of water containing larval mussels.
(C) A systematic monitoring program to determine any changes in
conditions.
(D) The requirement that the operator of the water supply system
permit inspections by the department as well as cooperate
with the department to update or revise control or eradication
measures in the approved plan to address scientific advances in the
methods of controlling or eradicating mussels and veligers.
(2) Paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) does not apply to
If the operation
operator of water delivery and storage facilities for
the purposes of providing public water supply
if the operator of the facilities purposes
has prepared prepared, initiated,
and implemented a is in compliance with all
the elements of an approved plan to control or eradicate
dreissenid mussels in accordance with paragraph (1).
(1), the requirements of subdivision (a) do not apply
to the operation of those water delivery and storage facilities, and
the operator is not subject to any civil or criminal liability for
the introduction of dreissenid mussel species as a result of those
operations. The department may require the operator of a
facility to update its plan, and if the plan is not updated or
revised as described in subparagraph (D) of paragraph (1),
subdivision (a) shall apply to the department may
engage in operation of the actions
described in paragraph (2) water delivery and storage
facilities covered by the plan until the operator updates or revises
the plan and initiates and complies with all of
subdivision (a). the elements of the updated or
revised plan.
(e) Any entity that discovers dreissenid mussels within this state
shall immediately report the discovery to the department.
(f) (1) In addition to any other penalty provided by law, any
person who violates this section, any verbal or written order or
regulation adopted pursuant to this section, or who resists, delays,
obstructs, or interferes with the implementation of this section, is
subject to a penalty, in an amount not to exceed one thousand dollars
($1,000), that is imposed administratively by the department.
(2) A penalty shall not be imposed pursuant to paragraph (1)
unless the department has adopted regulations specifying the amount
of the penalty and the procedure for imposing and appealing the
penalty.
(g) The department may adopt regulations to carry out this
section.
(h) Pursuant to Section 818.4 of the Government Code, the
department and any other state agency exercising authority under this
section shall not be liable with regard to any determination or
authorization made pursuant to this section.
(h)
(i) This section shall remain in effect only until
January 1, 2012, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later
enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2012, deletes or
extends that date.