BILL NUMBER: AB 2629	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 28, 2014

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Bloom

                        FEBRUARY 21, 2014

   An act  to amend Section 1799 of the Fish and Game Code, 
  relating to fish and wildlife resources.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2629, as amended, Bloom. Conservation and mitigation banks:
 expedited review and approval.   report. 
    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.  Existing law requires the department to
provide an annual report to the Legislature that includes, among
other things, information determined by the department to be relevant
in assessing the effectiveness of the department's mitigation and
conservation banking program.  
   This bill would require the department to also include in the
annual report the number of bank applications received for a proposed
bank site that is concurrently a federally approved conservation or
mitigation bank.  
   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
  yes  . State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   SECTION 1.    Section 1799 of the   Fish and
Game Code   is amended to read: 
   1799.  (a) Until the department has approved a bank, in writing,
and, if applicable, a conservation easement has been recorded on the
site, no bank shall be operative, vested, or final, nor bank credits
issued. No amendment to an approved bank shall be effective without
the written approval of the department.
   (b) Following approval of a final bank agreement package and
establishment of a bank, the department shall conduct compliance
review activities as provided in the approved bank enabling
instrument.
   (c) (1) The department shall establish and maintain a database
that allows bank sponsors to accurately update and add information
about mitigation and conservation banks. This data shall be available
on the department's Internet Web site or accessible by a link from
the department's Internet Web site. The available information shall
include, but is not limited to, the total number of each type of bank
credit, the types of credits sold or obligated, the number of
credits sold or obligated, the number of credits applied, the balance
of each type of credit remaining, the status of the species and
habitat at the bank, links to the bank's long-term management plans,
and links to the complete annual monitoring reports required by
departmental policy.
   (2) Information contained in the database created pursuant to
former Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 1850) on January 1, 2011,
shall be incorporated into the database established pursuant to
paragraph (1).
   (d) By January 1, 2014, and annually thereafter, the department
shall provide a report to the Legislature. The report shall include
the following information based on data from the previous calendar
year:
   (1) Number of new bank applications, prospectuses, bank agreement
packages, and amendments received.
   (2) Number of bank applications approved, rejected because not
complete, rejected because not acceptable, and withdrawn.
   (3) Name of new or existing bank, geographic location, number of
acres, number of credits approved for each habitat type or species,
and number of credits sold.
   (4) An accounting of fees collected pursuant to this chapter.
   (5) A statement of whether or not the timelines for bank review in
this chapter were met. 
   (6) Number of bank applications received for a proposed bank site
that is concurrently a federally approved conservation or mitigation
bank.  
   (6) 
    (   7)  Other information determined by the
department to be relevant in assessing the effectiveness of the
department's mitigation and conservation banking program.
   (e) (1) The department shall collect fees to pay for all or a
portion of the department's bank implementation and compliance costs.

   (2) The department shall collect a total payment of sixty thousand
($60,000) per bank, apportioned by an amount that equals the ratio
of the number of credits released to the total number of credits in
the bank, and shall be identified in the bank enabling instrument.
Payments shall be due following each credit release no later than the
due date for the submission of the bank's annual report. The
payments shall be submitted following each credit release and no
later than the time of the submission of the bank's annual report.
The department may require the bank to cease selling credits and may
stop credit releases until these fees are paid in full. The
department shall assess a penalty of 10 percent of the amount of fees
due if there is a failure to remit the amount payable when due.

  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).