BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 498
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
498 (Levine)
As Amended May 22, 2015
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes |Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+--------------------+----------------------|
|Water |8-5 |Levine, Dodd, |Bigelow, Dahle, Beth |
| | | |Gaines, Harper, |
| | | |Mathis |
| | |Cristina Garcia, | |
| | |Gomez, Lopez, | |
| | |Medina, Rendon, | |
| | |Williams | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+--------------------+----------------------|
|Appropriations |12-5 |Gomez, Bloom, |Bigelow, Chang, |
| | |Bonta, Calderon, |Gallagher, Jones, |
| | |Daly, Eggman, |Wagner |
| | |Eduardo Garcia, | |
| | |Holden, Quirk, | |
| | |Rendon, Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Declares the policy of the state to promote the
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protection of wildlife corridors. Specifically, this bill:
1)States legislative findings and declarations regarding the
importance of wildlife corridors to assist with climate change
adaptation, protect ecosystem health and biodiversity, and
improve the resiliency of wildlife and their habitats to climate
change. Further finds and declares that preserving and
connecting high-quality habitat for wildlife can create habitat
strongholds that support wildlife in being more resilient to
increasing pressures from climate change and development.
2)Declares 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 migration
and movement of species between habitat lands. Further states
that in order to further these goals it is the policy of the
state to encourage, wherever feasible and practicable, voluntary
steps to protect the functioning of wildlife corridors through
various means, as specified.
3)Provides that a project applicant, consistent with existing law
regarding conservation banks, 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.
4)Declares 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 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 law, as specified.
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5)Defines a wildlife corridor as a habitat linkage that joins two
or more areas of wildlife habitat, allowing for the movement of
wildlife from one area to another.
6)Defines a habitat stronghold as high-quality habitat that
supports wildlife in being more resilient to increasing
pressures on species due to climate change and land development.
7)States that this bill shall not be construed to create new
regulatory requirements or modify the requirements of the
California Environmental Quality Act.
8)States legislative findings and declarations regarding existing
programs, including programs involving working landscapes such
as timber lands, agricultural lands, and range lands, that are
already working to achieve these objectives.
9)Expands the definition of a conservation bank to include sites
that, to the extent feasible and practicable, protect habitat
connectivity for affected fish and wildlife resources.
EXISTING LAW:
1)States legislative findings and declarations regarding the
importance of connectivity between wildlife habitats for the
long-term viability of the state's biodiversity.
2)Required the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) to
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. Requires the DFW to prioritize vegetative mapping in
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these areas.
3)States legislative intent that the Wildlife Conservation Board
(WCB) use funds to work with the DFW to complete a statewide
analysis of wildlife corridors and connectivity to support
conservation planning and climate change adaptation activities.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, no direct state costs.
COMMENTS: This bill articulates a statewide policy to protect
wildlife corridors and habitat strongholds in order to enhance the
resiliency of wildlife and their habitats to climate change, and
to encourage voluntary steps to protect the functioning of
wildlife corridors. This bill also defines wildlife corridors and
habitat strongholds for these purposes, and expands the definition
of a conservation bank to include sites that, to the extent
feasible and practicable, protect habitat connectivity for
affected fish and wildlife resources.
As a result of legislation enacted in 2008, DFW and the Department
of Transportation jointly commissioned the California Essential
Habitat Connectivity project, which included a statewide
assessment of natural habitat blocks that support native
biodiversity and areas essential for ecological connectivity
between them. The report states that a functional network of
connected wild lands is essential to the continued support of
California's diverse natural communities in the face of human
development and climate change. The report is intended to make
transportation and land use planning more efficient and less
costly, while helping to reduce dangerous wildlife-vehicle
collisions. The importance of wildlife corridors and habitat
connectivity linkages has also been recognized by groups such as
the Western Governors' Association, which unanimously approved a
policy to protect wildlife migration corridors in 2007.
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There is currently no definition of wildlife corridors in statute,
and no clearly articulated statewide policy to protect wildlife
corridors.
Prior related legislation includes AB 2785 (Ruskin), Chapter 333,
Statutes of 2008, which directed DFW to investigate, study, and
identify those areas in the state most essential as wildlife
corridors and habitat linkages, and to prioritize vegetative data
mapping of those areas. AB 2785 also called on the WCB to work
with the DFW to fund a statewide analysis of wildlife corridors to
support conservation planning and climate change adaptation
activities.
Supporters of this bill note that by setting a statewide policy to
promote and protect wildlife corridors and habitat strongholds
this bill will ensure that state efforts are coordinated to
preserve the habitat most valuable to climate change adaptation.
They note that climate change is a significant threat to wildlife
and biodiversity in California. As the state works to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions and stop the acceleration of climate
change, supporters assert it must also promote policies that adapt
to the impacts climate change is already having on communities and
ecosystems in California. Some supporters also note that many
wildlife and game species migrate between large habitat blocks
within California on a seasonal basis. Without sufficient
corridors to link up these areas, habitat blocks may become
isolated and their value to wildlife reduced.
There is no opposition to the current version of this bill.
Analysis Prepared by:
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Diane Colborn / W., P., & W. / (916) 319-2096 FN:
0000499