BILL NUMBER: AB 2443	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Williams

                        FEBRUARY 24, 2012

   An act to add Section 9853.9 to the Vehicle Code, relating to
vessels.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2443, as introduced, Williams. Vessels: registration fee:
mussels.
   Existing law establishes various programs administered by, among
other agencies, the Department of Fish and Game and the State Lands
Commission, to prevent aquatic invasive species introduction and
manage the spread and impacts of aquatic invasive species in state
waters. Existing law prohibits, except as authorized by the
Department of Fish and Game, 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, which are regulated by the department as an
invasive species.
   Existing law establishes a registration fee for vessels and
applies certain fee increases to that registration fee.
   This bill, beginning July 1, 2013, would authorize a county to
assess a fee in an unspecified amount on a vessel registered in that
county. The bill would require funds from the fee to be used to
establish and operate a dreissenid mussel monitoring, inspection, and
eradication program in the county.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 9853.9 is added to the Vehicle Code, to read:
   9853.9.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares that the fee
authorized by this section is for the reasonable regulatory costs for
inspection and administrative enforcement of a program to reduce and
eliminate invasive species in the waters of the state.
   (b) Beginning July 1, 2013, in addition to the fees described in
paragraphs (1) and (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 9853, a county
may assess a fee in the amount of ____ dollars ($____) on a vessel
registered in that county.
   (c) The funds from the fee shall be used to establish and operate
a dreissenid mussel monitoring, inspection, and eradication program
in the county.