BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 763
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 763 (Buchanan)
As Amended September 3, 2013
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |77-0 |(May 30, 2013) |SENATE: |39-0 |(September 9, |
| | | | | |2013) |
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Original Committee Reference: W., P. & W.
SUMMARY : Designates the Division of Boating and Waterways (DBW)
in the Department of Parks and Recreations (DPR) as the lead
agency of the state for control of invasive aquatic plants in
the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta).
The Senate amendments :
1)Modify the definition of an invasive aquatic plant for
purposes of this bill to mean an aquatic plant or algae
species, including its seeds, fragments, and other biological
materials capable of propagating that species, whose
proliferation or dominant colonization of an area causes or is
likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to
human health.
2)Delete language referring to the eradication or attempted
eradication of certain species and provide that aquatic plants
shall be determined to be invasive through the risk assessment
this bill requires be completed by the Department of Fish and
Wildlife (DFW) in consultation with DBW and other agencies.
3)Specify that the report DFW is required to provide to the DBW
on its risk assessment shall be due within 60 days after the
risk assessment is completed by DFW.
4)Delete a provision which would have added a definition of
invasive aquatic plant to the Fish and Game Code.
5)Make technical amendments to reflect the reorganization of DBW
from a separate department into a division of DPR.
EXISTING LAW : Designates the DBW as the lead agency of the
state for the purpose of cooperating with other public agencies
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in controlling certain invasive plants in the Delta, namely
water hyacinth, Egeria densa, and South American spongeplant,
and authorizes the DBW to furnish money, services, equipment and
other property for control of these three invasive plants.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, ongoing cost pressures, likely in the millions of
dollars, from the Harbors and Watercraft Revolving Fund
(special) to DBW for the costs of responding to a new invasive
aquatic plant in the Delta that will need to be managed.
COMMENTS : This bill provides authority to DBW to serve as the
lead agency of the state for purposes of cooperating with other
state, local and federal agencies in identifying, detecting,
controlling and administering programs to manage invasive
aquatic plant species in the Delta. To avoid the necessity to
go back to the Legislature for additional statutory authority
every time a new invasive plant species is identified, this bill
would authorize the DBW, when it identifies a species of aquatic
plant in the Delta that may be invasive, to notify the DFW. The
DFW, after consultation with other agencies, would be required
to conduct a risk assessment to determine whether the species is
invasive and represents a threat to the environment, economy or
human health, such that control measures are warranted. The DBW
would then have authority, with DFW's concurrence, to implement
measures to control, or where feasible eradicate, the invasive
plant species, consistent with all applicable laws and
regulations and conducted in an environmentally sound manner.
The DBW, as a result of the Governor's Reorganization Plan and
related legislation enacted last year, ceased to be a separate,
stand-alone department effective July 1, 2013, and is now a
division of DPR.
The Senate amendments are primarily clarifying and modify the
definition of invasive aquatic plant for purposes of this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Diane Colborn / W., P. & W. / (916)
319-2096
FN: 0002348
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