BILL NUMBER: AB 1253	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  JULY 14, 2009
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 29, 2009
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JUNE 1, 2009
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 11, 2009
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 5, 2009

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Members Fuller and Gilmore
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members DeVore, Harkey, and Silva)

                        FEBRUARY 27, 2009

   An act relating to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1253, as amended, Fuller. Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta  :
fish predation report  .
   The California Bay-Delta Authority Act establishes in the Natural
Resources Agency the California Bay-Delta Authority. The act requires
the authority and the implementing agencies to carry out programs,
projects, and activities necessary to implement the Bay-Delta
Program, defined to mean those projects, programs, commitments, and
other actions that address the goals and objectives of the CALFED
Bay-Delta Program Record of Decision, dated August 28, 2000, or as it
may be amended.
   The act requires the authority to establish a board of independent
scientists  , known as the Independent Science Board,
 to advise and make recommendations to the authority and the
Bay-Delta Public Advisory Committee, as appropriate, on the science
relative to implementation of all program elements  ,  
including the science program element  .
   This bill would require the  board   CALFED
science program staff  to conduct an independent scientific
review of existing literature and studies on fish predation in the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and to prepare and submit to the
Legislature and the Governor a  prescribed  report 
, including a recommendation as to whether additional studies are
needed, and, if so, additional recommendations for the design and
scope of those studies and an estimate of the total costs for the
studies  .
   The bill would also authorize the  board  
Resources Agency, or a successor agency,  to enter into funding
agreements with public agencies and nongovernmental organizations to
pay for the cost of the independent scientific review.
   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.  (a) The  Independent Science Board 
 CALFED science program staff  shall conduct an independent
scientific review of existing literature and studies on fish
predation in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, for the purpose of
evaluating whether additional studies are needed on the effects of
predation on species listed as threatened or endangered under the
state or federal endangered species acts, and to determine whether
predator species are adversely affecting, at a population level,
native salmonids or other indigenous pelagic species in the Delta,
and, if so,  whether policy and operational changes are
needed in the Delta to   to determine possible
management actions that could  reduce the effects of predation.
 The review shall also include an evaluation of existing
studies on fish salvage methods and other mitigation protocols at
state and federal pumping facilities and recommendations for changes
in methodologies to improve survival, including the projected costs
of those changes.   The review shall include an
evaluation of existing studies on how fish salvage methods and other
mitigation protocols at state and federal pumping facilities affect
predation on native salmonids and indigenous pelagic species in the
Delta at a population level. 
   (b) After completing the review required by subdivision (a), the
 Independent Science Board   CALFED science
program   staff  shall prepare and submit to the
Legislature and the Governor a report that includes the following:
   (1) A recommendation on whether additional studies are needed.
   (2) If the  Independent Science Board  
CALFED science program staff  recommends additional studies,
recommendations for the design and scope of those studies and an
estimate of the total costs for the studies. 
   (3) A determination of whether predator species are adversely
affecting indigenous pelagic species at a population level. 

   (4) Possible management actions to mitigate or reduce the effects
of predation, if determined to be significant on a population level,
and the projected costs of those actions. 
   (c) The  Independent Science Board  
Resources Agency, or its successor agency,  may enter into
funding agreements with public agencies and nongovernmental
organizations to pay for the cost of the independent scientific
review specified in subdivision (a).