BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 559 (Lopez) - Monarch butterflies: conservation.
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|Version: June 16, 2015 |Policy Vote: N.R. & W. 7 - 2 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: July 6, 2015 |Consultant: Marie Liu |
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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
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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.
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