BILL NUMBER: AB 498 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 22, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 28, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 8, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Levine
FEBRUARY 23, 2015
An act to amend Sections 1797.5, 1930, and 1930.5 of the Fish and
Game Code, relating to fish and wildlife.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 498, as amended, Levine. Wildlife conservation: wildlife
corridors.
Existing law requires the Department of Fish and Wildlife to
administer the Significant Natural Areas Program, and requires the
department, among other things, to develop and maintain a spatial
data system that identifies those areas in the state that are most
essential for maintaining habitat connectivity, including wildlife
corridors and habitat linkages. Existing law requires the department,
contingent upon the provision of certain funding, to investigate,
study, and identify those areas in the state that are most essential
as wildlife corridors and habitat linkages and prioritize vegetative
data development in those areas. Existing law requires the department
to seek input from representatives of other state agencies, local
government, federal agencies, nongovernmental conservation
organizations, landowners, agriculture, recreation, scientific
entities, and industry in determining essential wildlife corridors
and habitat linkages.
This bill would declare that it is the policy of the
state, with regard to a project proposed in an area identified as a
wildlife corridor, to encourage the project proponent to consult with
the department, and, state to encourage,
wherever feasible and practicable, take voluntary
steps to promote, protect, or restore protect
the functioning of the wildlife corridor
wildlife corridors through various means, as applicable.
Existing law provides for the establishment of conservation banks,
defined as publicly or privately owned and operated sites that are
to be conserved and managed for habitat protection purposes in
accordance with an agreement with the Department of Fish and
Wildlife. Existing law provides for the issuance of credits by a
conservation bank to, among other things, reduce adverse impacts to
fish or wildlife resources from certain activities. Existing law
also provides for the establishment of mitigation banks, as defined.
This bill would include within the authorized purposes of a
conservation bank the maximization protection
of habitat connectivity for fish and wildlife resources.
This bill would provide that a project applicant may receive
advance mitigation credits for investing in a mitigation bank that
protects habitat connectivity for affected fish and wildlife
resources, and would further provide that the fact that a project
applicant does not take voluntary steps to protect the functioning of
a wildlife corridor prior to initiating the application process for
the project shall not be grounds for denying a permit or requiring
additional mitigation beyond what is otherwise required by law to
mitigate project impacts.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 1797.5 of the Fish and Game Code is amended to
read:
1797.5. For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms
shall have the following meanings:
(a) "Bank" means a conservation bank, mitigation bank, or
conservation and mitigation bank.
(b) "Bank enabling instrument" means a written agreement with the
department regarding the establishment, use, operation, and
maintenance of the bank.
(c) "Bank sponsor" means the person or entity responsible for
establishing and operating a bank.
(d) "Conservation bank" means a publicly or privately owned and
operated site that is to be conserved and managed in accordance with
a written agreement with the department that includes provisions for
the issuance of credits, on which important habitat, including
habitat for threatened, endangered, or other special status species,
exists, has been, or will be created to do any of the following:
(1) Compensate for take or other adverse impacts of activities
authorized pursuant to Chapter 1.5 (commencing with Section 2050) of
Division 3.
(2) Reduce adverse impacts to fish or wildlife resources from
activities, authorized pursuant to Chapter 6 (commencing with Section
1600) of Division 2, to less than substantial.
(3) Mitigate significant effects on the environment pursuant to
the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing
with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code) and Guidelines for
Implementation of the California Environmental Quality Act (Chapter 3
(commencing with Section 15000) of Division 6 of Title 14 of the
California Code of Regulations).
(4) Establish mitigation in advance of any impacts or effects.
(5) To the extent feasible and practicable,
maximize protect habitat connectivity for the
affected fish and wildlife resources.
(e) "Conservation easement" means a perpetual conservation
easement, as defined by Section 815.1 of the Civil Code, covering the
real property that comprises the bank site.
(f) "Mitigation bank" means either of the following:
(1) A bank site or mitigation bank site as defined by Section
1777.2.
(2) Any publicly or privately owned and operated site, other than
those defined by Section 1777.2, on which wetlands exist, have been,
or will be created, and that is to be conserved and managed in
accordance with a written agreement with the department for any of
the purposes described in paragraphs (1) to (4), inclusive, of
subdivision (d).
(g) "Person" has the meaning set forth in subdivision (b) of
Section 711.2.
(h) "Prospectus" means a written summary of the proposed bank
containing a sufficient level of detail to support informed
department review and comment.
SEC. 2. Section 1930 of the Fish and Game Code is amended to read:
1930. The Legislature finds and declares that:
(a) Areas containing diverse ecological and geological
characteristics are vital to the continual health and well being of
the state's natural resources and of its citizens.
(b) Many habitats and ecosystems that constitute the state's
natural diversity are in danger of being lost.
(c) Connectivity between wildlife habitats is important to the
long-term viability of the state's biodiversity.
(d) Preserving, restoring, Preserving
and connecting high-quality habitat for wildlife can create
habitat strongholds.
(e) Increasingly fragmented habitats threaten the state's wildlife
species.
(f) There is an opportunity to provide incentive for private
landowners to maintain and perpetuate significant local natural areas
in their natural state.
(g) Efforts to preserve natural areas have been fragmented between
federal, state, local, and private sectors.
(h) Analysis of the state's habitat connectivity benefits from the
consideration of all relevant data, including information from
private and public landowners.
(i) The department's existing mapping activities and products
should be developed and sustained.
(j) The importance of wildlife corridors to assist in adapting to
climate change has been recognized by such groups as the Western
Governor's Governors' Association,
which unanimously approved a policy to protect wildlife migration
corridors and crucial wildlife habitat in 2007. Individual local,
state, and federal agencies have also adopted policies aimed at
protecting wildlife corridors and restoring
habitat connectivity, in order to protect ecosystem health and
biodiversity and to improve the resiliency of wildlife and their
habitats to climate change. However, these efforts could be enhanced
through establishment of a statewide policy to protect and
restore important wildlife corridors and habitat linkages
where feasible. feasible and practicable.
SEC. 3. Section 1930.5 of the Fish and Game Code is amended to
read:
1930.5. (a) Contingent upon funding being provided by the
Wildlife Conservation Board from moneys available pursuant to Section
75055 of the Public Resources Code, or from other appropriate bond
funds, upon appropriation by the Legislature, the department shall
investigate, study, and identify those areas in the state that are
most essential as wildlife corridors and habitat linkages, as well as
the impacts to those wildlife corridors from climate change, and
shall prioritize vegetative data development in these areas.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that the Wildlife
Conservation Board use various funds to work with the department to
complete a statewide analysis of wildlife corridors and connectivity
to support conservation planning and climate change adaptation
activities.
(c) (1) It is the policy of the state to
promote the voluntary protection of wildlife corridors and habitat
strongholds in order to enhance the resiliency of wildlife and their
habitats to climate change, protect biodiversity, and allow for the
migration and movement of species by providing connectivity between
habitat lands. In order to further these goals, it is the policy of
the state, with regard to a project proposed in an area
identified as a wildlife corridor, to encourage the project proponent
to consult with the department, and, state to
encourage, wherever feasible and practicable, take
voluntary steps to promote, protect, or restore
protect the functioning of the
wildlife corridor corridors
through various means, as applicable. Those
As applicable and to the extent feasible and practicable,
those means may include, but are not necessarily limited
to, acquisition to:
(A) Acquisition or protection of
wildlife corridors as open space through conservation
easements, installing easements.
(B) Installing of
wildlife-friendly fencing, and provision
fencing.
(C) Creation of mitigation and
conservation banks that protect habitat connectivity for affected
fish and wildlife resources.
(D) Provision of roadway
undercrossings and undercrossings, oversized
culverts and culverts, or bridges to
allow for movement of wildlife between habitat areas, as
applicable. areas.
(2) Consistent with Chapter 7.9 (commencing with Section 1797) of
Division 2, a project applicant may receive advance mitigation
credits for investing in a mitigation bank that, to the extent
feasible and practicable, protects habitat connectivity for affected
fish and wildlife resources. The fact that a project applicant does
not take voluntary steps to protect the functioning of a wildlife
corridor prior to initiating the application process for a project
shall not be grounds for denying a permit or requiring additional
mitigation beyond what would be required to mitigate project impacts
under other applicable laws, including, but not limited to, the
California Endangered Species Act (Chapter 1.5 (commencing with
Section 2050) of Division 3) and the California Environmental Quality
Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public
Resources Code).
(d) It is further the intent of the Legislature that state
agencies and other conservation planners be encouraged to access
publicly available database tools developed by the department and
other conservation partners to support and assist conservation
planning and facilitate identification, mapping, and prioritization
of wildlife corridors and other habitat connectivity linkages. Those
tools shall include, but need not be limited to, the statewide
California Essential Habitat Connectivity Project and other more
fine-scale regional wildlife connectivity analyses, as those guidance
tools are developed and refined and made publicly available through
the department's Internet Web site.
(e)
(d) The Legislature finds and declares that there are a
number of existing programs, including, but not necessarily limited
to, programs involving working landscapes, such as timberlands,
agricultural lands, and rangelands, that are already working to
achieve the policy described in subdivision (c).
(f)
(e) Subdivision (c) shall not be construed to create
new regulatory requirements or modify the requirements of the
California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with
Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code).
(g)
(f) For purposes of this chapter, the following terms
have the following meanings:
(1) "Habitat stronghold" means high-quality habitat that supports
wildlife in being more resilient to increasing pressures on species
due to climate change and land development.
(2) "Wildlife corridor" means a habitat linkage that joins two or
more areas of wildlife habitat, allowing for the movement of wildlife
from one area to another.