BILL NUMBER: AB 2629	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Bloom

                        FEBRUARY 21, 2014

   An act relating to fish and wildlife resources.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2629, as introduced, Bloom. Conservation and mitigation banks:
expedited review and approval.
    Existing law provides that no conservation bank, mitigation bank,
or conservation and mitigation bank is operative, vested, or final,
nor bank credits issued, until the Department of Fish and Wildlife
has approved the bank in writing and a conservation easement has been
recorded on the site.
   This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact later
legislation that would create an expedited review and approval
process by the department of an entity applying to the department to
establish a conservation bank or mitigation bank for threatened,
endangered, or other special status species if that entity already
has a federally approved conservation bank or mitigation bank for
that species.
   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.  It is the intent of the Legislature to enact later
legislation that would do the following:
   (a) Create an expedited review and approval process by the
Department of Fish and Wildlife for an entity applying to the
Department of Fish and Wildlife to establish a conservation bank or
mitigation bank for threatened, endangered, or other special status
species if that entity already has a federally approved conservation
bank or mitigation bank for those threatened, endangered, or other
special status species for which the entity is seeking a state
approved conservation bank or mitigation bank.
   (b) Require an entity to provide the Department of Fish and
Wildlife any information required by, and provided to, the
appropriate federal regulatory entity for the approval and ongoing
monitoring and oversight for compliance and effectiveness of the
federally approved conservation bank or mitigation bank, including,
but not limited to, the prospectus, any survey work information,
progress reports, and federal credits paperwork.
   (c) Require the Department of Fish and Wildlife to utilize for the
expedited review and approval process the information specified in
subdivision (b).