BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
AB 896 (Eggman) - Wildlife management areas: mosquito abatement.
Amended: March 11, 2014 Policy Vote: NR&W 8-1
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes (see staff comment)
Hearing Date: June 23, 2014 Consultant:
Marie Liu
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 896 would require specified mosquito abatement
and vector control districts (districts) to notify the
Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) of areas that exceed
locally established mosquito population thresholds and would
require DFW to prioritize funding for the wildlife management
areas that have the highest need for the implementation of best
management practices to reduce mosquito populations.
Fiscal Impact: Annual costs likely in the low hundreds of
thousands of dollars from the Fish and Game Preservation Fund
(special) to prioritize funding on a statewide basis.
Background: AB 1982 (Wolk) Chapter 553, Statutes of 2004,
required a mosquito abatement district whose jurisdiction
included a wildlife management area to, at least semiannually,
notify DFW (then Department of Fish and Game) of the areas that
exceed locally established mosquito population thresholds and
associated mosquito control costs. For such identified areas,
DFW was required to:
Identify best management practices (BMPs) to reduce mosquito
populations below the locally established threshold while
maintaining and enhancing the wildlife values of the habitat;
Develop and implement a mosquito control plan that applies the
BMPs and any other necessary practices for each applicable
wildlife management area;
Work towards securing funding for any capital improvements
that would be required by the BMPs;
Develop and implement an annual work plan to implement BMPs to
the greatest extent possible; and
Meet with districts, including for the purpose of refining the
BMPs if needed.
AB 896 (Eggman)
Page 1
AB 1982 also required districts to develop a standardized
monitoring procedure, conduct post-treatment monitoring, and to
report annually to DFW the total number of acres treated in a
wildlife management area.
These requirements in AB 1982 sunset in 2010, though according
to DFW, contracts between DFW and individual districts for
mosquito abatement continue to be in place.
Proposed Law: This bill would re-establish the required
notification, monitoring and reporting activities of districts
under AB 1982 and would additionally require districts who may
receive mosquitos from a wildlife management area outside its
jurisdiction to follow those same requirements.
DFW would be required to prioritize funding for wildlife
management areas which have been identified as having exceeded
locally established thresholds statewide while taking into
account BMPs identified under AB 1982 and any subsequent changes
to those BMPs, the mosquito control plans developed under AB
1982 and subsequent changes to those plans, and the existing
resources available to implement BMPs in applicable wildlife
management areas.
Staff Comments: In response to the passage of AB 1982, DFW spent
$2.39 million to develop and implement best management
practices. While the development of the BMPs and related
mosquito control plans provide the basic framework for necessary
activities at DFW's 14 actively-managed wildlife management
areas, the actual activities that may be necessary for any
particular area greatly depends on the environmental conditions
of the time, such as water availability and climate. According
to DFW, in order to appropriately prioritize funding for the
management areas, significant staff time would be needed to
develop prioritization metrics, consult with districts, and
evaluate the current environmental conditions and needs of each
of the identified wildlife management areas. Based on the
activities deemed necessary by DFW, staff estimates that costs
could reach in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars. Costs
may rise into the mid-hundreds of thousands of dollars if DFW
determines that BMPs or control plans need to be modified or if
DFW feels it is necessary to do a more thorough evaluation of
the identified areas. Because the priorities may change with
conditions, DFW believes that these costs will be incurred any
year which there is funding spent for mosquito abatement.
AB 896 (Eggman)
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Staff notes that the costs to implement the BMPs have increased
substantially. According to DFW, in one area, abatement costs
have risen from $18,000 to $60,000 over the past ten years.
Another has risen from $32,000 to $53,000 in five years. DFW
notes that they do not have a separate budget for mosquito
abatement, rather the costs come out of the wildlife management
areas' operation budgets.
This bill creates a state mandate by requiring activities of the
districts. However, as the districts have authority to recoup
their costs through fees, the mandate costs are not
reimbursable.