Amended in Assembly January 8, 2014

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 896

Introduced by Assembly Member Eggman

February 22, 2013

An act to add Section 1506 to the Fish and Game Code, relating to wildlife management.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 896, as amended, Eggman. Wildlife management areas: mosquito abatement.

(1) Existing law provides for the formation of mosquito abatement and vector control districts, and prescribes the powers, functions, and duties of those districts, as specified. The existing Fish and Game Code authorizes the Department of Fish and Wildlife to take specified actions to protect, restore, rehabilitate, and improve fish and wildlife habitat.

Statutory provisions that were repealed on January 1, 2010, required a mosquito abatement and vector control district whose boundaries include one or more wildlife management areas to periodically, or at least semiannually, notify the department of those areas that exceed locally established mosquito population thresholds and associated mosquito control costs. These provisions required the department to take specified actions with regard to the control and abatement of mosquitos in those wildlife management areas. These provisions required those mosquito abatement and vector control districts, in consultation with the department, to develop standardized monitoring procedures for mosquito surveillance, as prescribed, for each managed wetland habitat at each wildlife management area, and to provide an annual report to the department of pesticide use in those habitats and areas, as specified.

This bill would permanently reenact begin insert certain of end insert those provisions. begin delete This end delete begin insert The bill would require the department to prioritize, for funding, wildlife management areas that exceed locally established mosquito population thresholds based on specified factors. The end insert bill would also make nonsubstantive conforming changes. By imposing new duties on local agencies with regard to mosquito control and abatement practices in wildlife habitat areas, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

(2) 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.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 1506 is added to the Fish and Game Code,
to read:

1506.  

(a) (1) It is the intent of the Legislature to control
mosquito production on managed wetland habitat that is owned
or managed by the department, in a manner that does all of the
following:

(A) Maintains or enhances the waterfowl and other wildlife
values of that habitat.

(B) Minimizes financial costs to the department and local
mosquito abatement and vector control districts.

(C) Reduces the need for chemical treatment or other
nonecological control of mosquitos.

(D) Increases coordination and communication between the
department, local mosquito abatement and vector control districts,
and the State Department of Public Health.

(E) Maintains and protects humans, domestic animals, and
wildlife from vector-borne diseases such as West Nile virus.

(2) The Legislature further finds and declares that the
implementation of mosquito prevention best management practices
on managed wetland habitat is critical to the department’s effort
to reduce mosquito production on its wildlife management areas.

(b) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:

(1) “Managed wetland habitat” means artificially irrigated and
intensively managed wetland habitat administered primarily for
the benefit of waterfowl and other wetland-dependent species.

(2) “Best management practices” means management strategies
jointly developed by the department, the State Department of Public
Health, and mosquito abatement and vector control districts, in
consultation with the Central Valley Habitat Joint Venture, for the
ecological control of mosquitoes on managed wetland habitat.

(3) “Wildlife management area” has the same meaning as set
forth in subdivision (d) of Section 1504.

(4) “Mosquito abatement and vector control district” has the
same meaning as set forth in subdivision (f) of Section 2002 of
the Health and Safety Code.

(c) (1) A mosquito abatement and vector control district whose
district boundaries include one or more wildlife management areas
shall periodically, or at least semiannually, notify the department
of those areas that exceed locally established mosquito population
thresholds and associated mosquito control costs. The district shall
provide the basis for the established thresholds to the department.
Those thresholds and costs may be reviewed by the State
Department of Public Health for conformity to generally acceptable
mosquito control standards.

(2)  begin delete In order to end delete begin insert (A) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert To end insert reduce mosquito production at those
wildlife management areas described in paragraph (1), the
begin delete department shall do all of end delete begin insert department, in consultation with local
mosquito abatement and vector control districts, shall prioritize,
for funding, those wildlife management areas having the highest
need for additional mosquito reduction through the implementation
of best management practices taking into account end insert the following:

begin delete

(A) Identify

end delete

begin insert (i) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert The end insert best management practices begin delete for each end delete begin insert identified pursuant
to Chapter 553 of the Statutes of 2004 and any subsequent changes
to those practices for the end insert applicable wildlife management area
that, when implemented, would result in the mosquito population
being reduced below the locally established threshold value while
maintaining and enhancing the waterfowl and other wildlife values
of that habitat.

begin delete

(B) In consultation with the local mosquito abatement and vector
control district, develop and implement a

end delete

begin insert (ii) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert The end insert mosquito control begin delete plan end delete begin insert plan developed pursuant to
Chapter 553 of the Statutes of 2004, in consultation with the local
mosquito abatement and vector control district, and any subsequent
changes to the plan end insert that applies the best management practices
and any other necessary management practices at begin delete each end delete begin insert the end insert
applicable wildlife management area.

begin delete

(C) If capital improvements or other infrastructure are required
to implement selected best management practices at a wildlife
management area, the department shall work to secure any
necessary funding through the board or other appropriate sources.

(D) In coordination with the local mosquito abatement and
vector control district, develop each spring an annual work plan
for each wildlife management area that specifies the intended
management activities for each unit of the wildlife management
area and that, to the extent practicable, employs best management
practices.

(E) Implement the best management practices referenced in the
annual work plan to the greatest extent possible, recognizing that
unanticipated modifications to those plans are often necessary due
to the uncertainty of water availability, water conveyance problems
associated with beaver, muskrat and other animal activity, ditch,
levee or pump failures, equipment breakdowns, rainfall or
runoff-induced natural flooding, and other factors beyond the
control of the department’s wetland managers, all of which may
require periodic alteration of wetland management plans.

(F) Meet with the local mosquito abatement and vector control
district each summer to coordinate fall flooding of managed
wetland habitat at each applicable wildlife management area and,
if chemical treatment or other nonecological control is necessary,
conduct post-fall flooding meetings to discuss the refinement of
best management practices.

end delete begin insert

(iii) The existing resources available to the department to
implement best management practices in the applicable wildlife
management areas.

end insert begin delete

(G)

end delete

begin insert (B) end insert  If the wetland occupies land outside the jurisdictional
boundaries of a mosquito abatement and vector control district,
the department may consult with the State Department of Public
Health to determine which best management practices can be
implemented in the absence of an organized local mosquito control
program.

(d) A mosquito abatement and vector control district whose
boundaries include a wildlife management area described in
paragraph (1) of subdivision (c) shall do all of the following:

(1) In consultation with the department, develop standardized
monitoring procedures for mosquito surveillance for each managed
wetland habitat at each wildlife management area, and, when the
monitoring procedures are completed, provide a copy of the
procedures to the department. These procedures may be reviewed
by the State Department of Public Health for conformity to
generally accepted mosquito control standards.

(2) Conduct posttreatment monitoring of wildlife management
area lands and develop performance criteria to document mosquito
control effectiveness.

(3) Provide an annual report to the department specifying the
types and quantities of pesticides used, types of habitat sprayed,
and the total number of acres treated in a wildlife management
area. The annual report shall also include recommendations for
the refinement of best management practices to reduce the need
for any chemical treatment or other nonecological control.

SEC. 2.  

No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
a local agency or school district has the authority to levy service
charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or
level of service mandated by this act, within the meaning of Section
17556 of the Government Code.