BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair 2015 - 2016 Regular Session AB 559 (Lopez) - Monarch butterflies: conservation. ----------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Version: June 16, 2015 |Policy Vote: N.R. & W. 7 - 2 | | | | |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Urgency: No |Mandate: No | | | | |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Hearing Date: July 6, 2015 |Consultant: Marie Liu | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the Suspense File. Bill Summary: AB 559 would explicitly authorize the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) to take actions to conserve monarch butterflies and their habitat. Fiscal Impact: Unknown additional potential cost pressures, but likely minor, to the Fish and Game Preservation Fund (special) to take conservation actions, including habitat restoration projects, to conserve monarch butterflies. Background: DFW is generally tasked with managing California's wildlife and plant resources, and the habitats upon which they depend. Wildlife is defined in the Fish and Game Code as "all wild animals, birds, plants, fish, amphibians, reptiles, and related ecological communities, including the habitat upon which the wildlife depends on for its continued viability." AB 559 (Lopez) Page 1 of ? Proposed Law: This bill would explicitly authorize DFW to take actions to conserve monarch butterflies and their habitats, including habitat restoration on department lands, educational programs, and voluntary agreements with private landowners. The bill would also explicitly authorize DFW to partner with other governmental and nongovernmental agencies and private individuals to undertake actions to conserve monarchs. The bill would require DFW, when undertaking actions to conserve monarch butterflies, to use the best available science and to make specific considerations. Staff Comments: By giving DFW explicit authority to take conservation actions on behalf of monarchs, this bill arguably would encourage DFW to take such actions, thereby imposing cost pressures on the Fish and Game Preservation Account. As an illustration of potential costs, DFW notes that a full-scale restoration project to provide high quality foraging habitat, including follow-up treatments and management, is estimated to cost at least $4,000 per acre. Given that DFW currently manages approximately 230 acres over five of its properties for monarchs, restoration costs could be in the high hundreds of thousands of dollars to low millions. While there are cost pressures associated with monarch conservation, staff believes that these cost pressures are at least largely preexisting because of DFW's general authority over wild animals, which includes butterflies. -- END --