BILL NUMBER: AB 896 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 18, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 11, 2014
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JANUARY 8, 2014
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Statutory provisions that were repealed on January 1, 2010,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 certain of those
provisions and would also make those provisions applicable to
require a mosquito abatement and vector control
district that includes one or more wildlife management areas, as
defined, or in which vectors and vectorborne diseases from a
wildlife management area may enter the district. 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 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, district, to periodically, or
at least semiannually, notify the department of those areas that are
of concern due to the potential for high mosquito populations that
may incur associated mosquito control costs. By requiring local
agencies to provide the notification, the bill would impose a
state-mandated local program. The bill would require the
department to consult with local mosquito abatement and vector
control districts to identify those areas within wildlife management
areas having the highest need for additional mosquito reduction
through the implementation of best management practices, as defined.
(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. (a) It is the intent of the Legislature
to control mosquito production on managed wetland habitat that is
owned or managed by the Department of Fish and Wildlife in a manner
that does all of the following:
(1) Maintains or enhances the waterfowl and other wildlife values
of that habitat.
(2) Minimizes financial costs to the Department of Fish and
Wildlife and local mosquito abatement and vector control districts.
(3) Reduces the need for chemical control of mosquitos.
(4) Increases coordination and communication between the
Department of Fish and Wildlife, local mosquito abatement and vector
control districts, and the State Department of Public Health.
(5) Maintains and protects humans, domestic animals, and wildlife
from vector-borne diseases such as West Nile virus.
(b) The Legislature further finds and declares that the
implementation of mosquito prevention best management practices on
managed wetland habitat is critical to the Department of Fish and
Wildlife's effort to reduce mosquito production in its wildlife
management areas.
SECTION 1. SEC. 2. 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 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)
1506. (a) 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)
(b) (1) A mosquito abatement and vector control
district whose district boundaries include one or more wildlife
management areas or a mosquito abatement and vector control district
in which vectors and vectorborne diseases from a wildlife management
area may enter the district shall periodically, or at least
semiannually, notify the department of those areas that
exceed locally established mosquito population thresholds and
are of concern due to the potential for high mosquito
populations that may incur 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) (A) To reduce mosquito production at those wildlife management
areas described in paragraph (1), the department, in
consultation department shall consult with local
mosquito abatement and vector control districts, shall
prioritize, for funding, those districts to identify
those areas within wildlife management areas having the highest
need for additional mosquito reduction through the implementation of
best management practices taking into account the
following: practices.
(i) The best management practices identified pursuant to Chapter
553 of the Statutes of 2004 and any subsequent changes to those
practices for the 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.
(ii) The mosquito control 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 that applies the best management practices and any other
necessary management practices at the applicable wildlife management
area.
(iii) The existing resources available to the department to
implement best management practices in the applicable wildlife
management areas.
(B) 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 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
chemical control.
(e)
(c) This section does not affect existing authority of
a mosquito abatement and vector control district under Section 2040
of the Health and Safety Code.
SEC. 2. SEC. 3. 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.