Amended in Senate March 11, 2014

Amended in Assembly January 8, 2014

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 896

Introduced by Assembly Member Eggman

February 22, 2013

An act to add Section 1506 to the Fish and Game Code, relating to wildlife management.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 896, as amended, Eggman. Wildlife management areas: mosquito abatement.

(1) Existing law provides for the formation of mosquito abatement and vector control districts, and prescribes the powers, functions, and duties of those districts, as specified. The existing Fish and Game Code authorizes the Department of Fish and Wildlife to take specified actions to protect, restore, rehabilitate, and improve fish and wildlife habitat.

Statutory provisions that were repealed on January 1, 2010, required a mosquito abatement and vector control district whose boundaries include one or more wildlife management areas to periodically, or at least semiannually, notify the department of those areas that exceed locally established mosquito population thresholds and associated mosquito control costs. These provisions required the department to take specified actions with regard to the control and abatement of mosquitos in those wildlife management areas. These provisions required those mosquito abatement and vector control districts, in consultation with the department, to develop standardized monitoring procedures for mosquito surveillance, as prescribed, for each managed wetland habitat at each wildlife management area, and to provide an annual report to the department of pesticide use in those habitats and areas, as specified.

This bill would permanently reenact certain of those provisions begin insert and would also make those provisions applicable to a mosquito abatement and vector control district in which vectors and vectorborne diseases from a wildlife management area may enter the district end insert . The bill would require the department to prioritize, for funding, wildlife management areas that exceed locally established mosquito population thresholds based on specified factors. The bill would also make nonsubstantive conforming changes. By imposing new duties on local agencies with regard to mosquito control and abatement practices in wildlife habitat areas, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

(2) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 1506 is added to the Fish and Game Code,
to read:

1506.  

(a) (1) It is the intent of the Legislature to control
mosquito production on managed wetland habitat that is owned
or managed by the department, in a manner that does all of the
following:

(A) Maintains or enhances the waterfowl and other wildlife
values of that habitat.

(B) Minimizes financial costs to the department and local
mosquito abatement and vector control districts.

(C) Reduces the need for chemical begin delete treatment or other
nonecological end delete control of mosquitos.

(D) Increases coordination and communication between the
department, local mosquito abatement and vector control districts,
and the State Department of Public Health.

(E) Maintains and protects humans, domestic animals, and
wildlife from vector-borne diseases such as West Nile virus.

(2) The Legislature further finds and declares that the
implementation of mosquito prevention best management practices
on managed wetland habitat is critical to the department’s effort
to reduce mosquito production on its wildlife management areas.

(b) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:

(1) “Managed wetland habitat” means artificially irrigated and
intensively managed wetland habitat administered primarily for
the benefit of waterfowl and other wetland-dependent species.

(2) “Best management practices” means management strategies
jointly developed by the department, the State Department of Public
Health, and mosquito abatement and vector control districts, in
consultation with the Central Valley Habitat Joint Venture, for the
ecological control of mosquitoes on managed wetland habitat.

(3) “Wildlife management area” has the same meaning as set
forth in subdivision (d) of Section 1504.

(4) “Mosquito abatement and vector control district” has the
same meaning as set forth in subdivision (f) of Section 2002 of
the Health and Safety Code.

(c) (1) A mosquito abatement and vector control district whose
district boundaries include one or more wildlife management areas
begin insert or a mosquito abatement and vector control district in which
vectors and vectorborne diseases from a wildlife management area
may enter the district end insert shall periodically, or at least semiannually,
notify the department of those areas that exceed locally established
mosquito population thresholds and associated mosquito control
costs. The district shall provide the basis for the established
thresholds to the department. Those thresholds and costs may be
reviewed by the State Department of Public Health for conformity
to generally acceptable mosquito control standards.

(2) (A) To reduce mosquito production at those wildlife
management areas described in paragraph (1), the department, in
consultation with local mosquito abatement and vector control
districts, shall prioritize, for funding, those wildlife management
areas having the highest need for additional mosquito reduction
through the implementation of best management practices taking
into account the following:

(i) The best management practices identified pursuant to Chapter
553 of the Statutes of 2004 and any subsequent changes to those
practices for the applicable wildlife management area that, when
implemented, would result in the mosquito population being
reduced below the locally established threshold value while
maintaining and enhancing the waterfowl and other wildlife values
of that habitat.

(ii) The mosquito control plan developed pursuant to Chapter
553 of the Statutes of 2004, in consultation with the local mosquito
abatement and vector control district, and any subsequent changes
to the plan that applies the best management practices and any
other necessary management practices at the applicable wildlife
management area.

(iii) The existing resources available to the department to
implement best management practices in the applicable wildlife
management areas.

(B) If the wetland occupies land outside the jurisdictional
boundaries of a mosquito abatement and vector control district,
the department may consult with the State Department of Public
Health to determine which best management practices can be
implemented in the absence of an organized local mosquito control
program.

(d) A mosquito abatement and vector control district begin delete whose
boundaries include a wildlife management area end delete described in
paragraph (1) of subdivision (c) shall do all of the following:

(1) In consultation with the department, develop standardized
monitoring procedures for mosquito surveillance for each managed
wetland habitat at each wildlife management area, and, when the
monitoring procedures are completed, provide a copy of the
procedures to the department. These procedures may be reviewed
by the State Department of Public Health for conformity to
generally accepted mosquito control standards.

(2) Conduct posttreatment monitoring of wildlife management
area lands and develop performance criteria to document mosquito
control effectiveness.

(3) Provide an annual report to the department specifying the
types and quantities of pesticides used, types of habitat sprayed,
and the total number of acres treated in a wildlife management
area. The annual report shall also include recommendations for
the refinement of best management practices to reduce the need
for begin delete any end delete chemical begin delete treatment or other nonecological end delete control.

begin insert

(e) This section does not affect existing authority of a mosquito
abatement and vector control district under Section 2040 of the
Health and Safety Code.

end insert

SEC. 2.  

No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
a local agency or school district has the authority to levy service
charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or
level of service mandated by this act, within the meaning of Section
17556 of the Government Code.