Amended in Senate June 9, 2016

Amended in Assembly April 14, 2016

Amended in Assembly March 31, 2016

Amended in Assembly March 17, 2016

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 2488

Introduced by Assembly Member Dababneh

February 19, 2016

An act to amend Section 5515 of, and to add Section 2081.10 to, the Fish and Game Code, relating to fish.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 2488, as amended, Dababneh. Protected species: unarmored threespine stickleback: taking or possession.

Existing law prohibits the taking or possession of a fully protected fish, except as provided, and designates the unarmored threespine stickleback as a fully protected fish. The California Endangered Species Act prohibits the taking of an endangered or threatened species, except as specified. The Department of Fish and Wildlife may authorize the take of listed species if the take is incidental to an otherwise lawful activity and the impacts are minimized and fully mitigated.

This bill would permit the department to authorize, under the California Endangered Species Act, the take of the unarmored threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus williamsoni) attributable to the periodic dewatering, inspection, maintenance, begin insert modification, end insert or repair of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s Foothill Feeder water supply facility from Castaic Dam to the Joseph Jensen Treatment Plant in the County of Los Angeles, as specified, if certain conditions are satisfied.

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.  

The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:

(a) The Foothill Feeder below Castaic Dam in the County of
Los Angeles is the primary conduit for water from the State Water
Project for the Southern California region served by the
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. The
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is a public
agency comprised of 26 member public agencies - 14 cities, 11
municipal water districts, and one county water authority - and
provides water to more than 19 million people in the Counties of
Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and
Ventura.

(b) Water supplies from the State Water Project are a critical
part of Southern California’s water supply portfolio, and any
interruption of that supply must be minimized to ensure delivery
of clean and reliable water supplies for municipal and industrial
uses, including health and human safety, and to water agencies
and cities that rely upon water supply deliveries from the
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

(c) Periodic dewatering, inspection, maintenance, modification,
or repair, including emergency repairs, require that all or a portion
of the Foothill Feeder be dewatered into the Santa Clara River and
certain of its tributaries where unarmored threespine stickleback
(Gasterosteus aculeatus williamsoni) may be present during these
activities. Thus, the incidental take of unarmored threespine
stickleback must be permitted for the periodic dewatering,
inspection, maintenance, modification, or repair of the Foothill
Feeder to protect Southern California water supplies.

begin insert

(d) It is the intent of the Legislature that, in the course of issuing
a permit for the incidental take of the unarmored threespine
stickleback pursuant to Section 2081.10 of the Fish and Game
Code, the Department of Fish and Wildlife should consult with the
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to consider
feasible measures to avoid and minimize incidental take of
unarmored threespine stickleback, taking into account physical,
technological, logistical, legal, financial, and environmental
constraints. It is also the intent of the Legislature that both agencies
should consult with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service
with respect to feasible mitigation and conservation measures to
design them consistent with a comprehensive and consistent
multiagency and multiparty approach to the long-term conservation
of the species in the Santa Clara River watershed.

end insert

SEC. 2.  

Section 2081.10 is added to the Fish and Game Code,
to read:

2081.10.  

(a) The department may authorize, under this chapter,
the incidental take of unarmored threespine stickleback
(Gasterosteus aculeatus williamsoni) attributable to the periodic
dewatering, inspection, maintenance, modification, or repair of
the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s Foothill
Feeder water supply facility from Castaic Dam to the Joseph Jensen
Treatment Plant in the County of Los Angeles, contingent upon
the fulfillment of the following conditions:

(1) The department has determined that the requirements of
subdivisions (b) and (c) of Section 2081 are satisfied for the take
of the unarmored threespine stickleback.

(2) The department ensures that all further measures necessary
to satisfy the conservation standard of subdivision (d) of Section
2805 are incorporated into the project.

(3) The take authorization provides for the development and
implementation, in cooperation with the department, of an adaptive
management process for monitoring the effectiveness of, and
adjusting as necessary, the measures to minimize and fully mitigate
the impacts of the authorized take. The adjusted measures are
subject to Section 2052.1.

(4) A biologist will be on duty whenever an activity is conducted
that may affect the unarmored threespine stickleback.

(b) The take authorization shall cover any incidental take of
unarmored threespine stickleback attributable to the periodic
dewatering, inspection, maintenance, modification, or repair of
the Foothill Feeder that may occur in the following locations:

(1) Within the Santa Clara River, from the Bouquet Canyon
Road Bridge to a point located 4,000 feet downstream of where
Commerce Center Drive, as of January 1, 2016, dead ends adjacent
to the Santa Clara River.

(2) From the confluence with the Santa Clara River upstream
to the following locations:

(A) In Charlie Canyon to a point 1,000 feet upstream of the
Foothill Feeder facility dewatering structure.

(B) In San Francisquito Creek to the Copper Hill Drive bridge.

(C) In Placerita Creek to the Hacienda Lane crossing.

(D) In Bouquet Creek to the Newhall Ranch Road Bridge.

(c) The take authorization shall also cover any incidental take
of unarmored threespine stickleback that may occur in the course
of implementing mitigation or conservation actions required in the
permit issued pursuant to subdivision (a) as may be modified
through an adaptive management plan adopted pursuant to
paragraph (3) of subdivision (a).

(d) This section shall not be construed to exempt from any other
law the periodic dewatering, inspection, maintenance, modification,
or repair of the Foothill Feeder.

begin insert

(e) As used in this section, “modification” does not include
alterations to expand the maximum physical capacity of the
Foothill Feeder to deliver water.

end insert

SEC. 3.  

Section 5515 of the Fish and Game Code is amended
to read:

5515.  

(a) (1) Except as provided in this section, Section
2081.6, Section 2081.7, Section 2081.10, or Section 2835, a fully
protected fish shall not be taken or possessed at any time. No
provision of this code or any other law shall be construed to
authorize the issuance of a permit or license to take a fully
protected fish, and no permit or license previously issued shall
have force or effect for that purpose. However, the department
may authorize the taking of a fully protected fish for necessary
scientific research, including efforts to recover fully protected,
threatened, or endangered species. Before authorizing the take of
a fully protected fish, the department shall make an effort to notify
all affected and interested parties to solicit information and
comments on the proposed authorization. The notification shall
be published in the California Regulatory Notice Register and be
made available to each person who has notified the department,
in writing, of his or her interest in fully protected species and who
has provided an email address, if available, or postal address to
the department. Affected and interested parties shall have 30 days
after notification is published in the California Regulatory Notice
Register to provide relevant information and comments on the
proposed authorization.

(2) As used in this subdivision, “scientific research” does not
include an action taken as part of specified mitigation for a project,
as defined in Section 21065 of the Public Resources Code.

(3) A legally imported fully protected fish may be possessed
under a permit issued by the department.

(b) The following are fully protected fish:

(1) Colorado River squawfish (Ptychocheilus lucius).

(2) Thicktail chub (Gila crassicauda).

(3) Mohave chub (Gila mohavensis).

(4) Lost River sucker (Catostomus luxatus).

(5) Modoc sucker (Catostomus microps).

(6) Shortnose sucker (Chasmistes brevirostris).

(7) Humpback sucker (Xyrauchen texanus).

(8) Owens River pupfish (Cyprinoden radiosus).

(9) Unarmored threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus
williamsoni).

(10) Rough sculpin (Cottus asperrimus).