BILL NUMBER: AB 560	CHAPTERED  09/17/99

	CHAPTER   435
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   SEPTEMBER 17, 1999
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR   SEPTEMBER 17, 1999
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   AUGUST 26, 1999
	PASSED THE SENATE   AUGUST 23, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   JULY 15, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   JULY 1, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   MAY 25, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   APRIL 27, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   APRIL 19, 1999

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Members Oller and Machado
   (Coauthors:  Assembly Members Aanestad, Campbell, Cardoza, Cox,
Dickerson, Leonard, Robert Pacheco, Thomson, and Torlakson)
   (Coauthors:  Senators Alpert, Johannessen, Johnston, Knight, and
Leslie)

                        FEBRUARY 19, 1999

   An act to amend  Section 4801 of the Fish and Game Code, relating
to wildlife, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect
immediately.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 560, Oller.  Wildlife:  mountain lions.
   Proposition 117, an initiative measure approved by the voters at
the June 5, 1990, primary election, enacted the California Wildlife
Protection Act of 1990.  Among other things, the act made the
mountain lion a specially protected mammal.  The act prohibits the
Legislature from changing the special protection of that mammal
except by a 4/5 vote of the membership of both houses of the
Legislature and then only consistent with, and in furtherance of, the
purposes of the act.
   The act authorizes the Department of Fish and Game to remove or
take any mountain lion, or authorize an appropriate local agency with
public safety responsibility to remove or take any mountain lion,
that is perceived to be an imminent threat to public health or
safety.
   This bill would, instead, authorize the department to remove or
take, or authorize an appropriate local agency with public safety
responsibility to remove or take, any mountain lion that is perceived
to be an imminent threat to public health or safety or that is
perceived by the department to be an imminent threat to the survival
of any threatened, endangered, candidate, or fully protected sheep
species.  The bill would state the legislative finding and
declaration that this change is consistent with, and furthers the
purposes of, the California Wildlife Protection Act of 1990.
   The bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an
urgency statute.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Section 4801 of the Fish and Game Code is amended to
read:
   4801.  The department may remove or take any mountain lion, or
authorize an appropriate local agency with public safety
responsibility to remove or take any mountain lion, that is perceived
to be an imminent threat to public health or safety or that is
perceived by the department to be an imminent threat to the survival
of any threatened, endangered, candidate, or fully protected sheep
species.
  SEC. 2.  The Legislature finds and declares that the amendments
made by this act to Section 4801 of the Fish and Game Code are
consistent with, and further the purposes of, the California Wildlife
Protection Act of 1990.
  SEC. 3.  This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect.  The facts constituting the necessity are:
   In order to prevent the extinction of the Sierra Nevada Bighorn
Sheep as soon as possible, thereby protecting the environment, it is
necessary that this act take effect immediately.