Amended in Assembly March 28, 2014

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 2629

Introduced by Assembly Member Bloom

February 21, 2014

An act begin insert to amend Section 1799 of the Fish and Game Code, end insert relating to fish and wildlife resources.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 2629, as amended, Bloom. Conservation and mitigation banks: begin delete expedited review and approval. end delete begin insert report. end insert

Existing law provides that no conservation bank, mitigation bank, or conservation and mitigation bank is operative, vested, or final, nor bank credits issued, until the Department of Fish and Wildlife has approved the bank in writing and a conservation easement has been recorded on the site. begin insert Existing law requires the department to provide an annual report to the Legislature that includes, among other things, information determined by the department to be relevant in assessing the effectiveness of the department’s mitigation and conservation banking program. end insert

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This bill would require the department to also include in the annual report the number of bank applications received for a proposed bank site that is concurrently a federally approved conservation or mitigation bank.

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This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact later legislation that would create an expedited review and approval process by the department of an entity applying to the department to establish a conservation bank or mitigation bank for threatened, endangered, or other special status species if that entity already has a federally approved conservation bank or mitigation bank for that species.

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Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:  begin delete no end delete begin insert yes end insert . State-mandated local program: no.

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

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begin insert SECTION 1. end insert   

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begin insert Section 1799 of the end insert begin insert Fish and Game Code end insert begin insert is
amended to read: end insert

1799.  

(a) Until the department has approved a bank, in writing,
and, if applicable, a conservation easement has been recorded on
the site, no bank shall be operative, vested, or final, nor bank credits
issued. No amendment to an approved bank shall be effective
without the written approval of the department.

(b) Following approval of a final bank agreement package and
establishment of a bank, the department shall conduct compliance
review activities as provided in the approved bank enabling
instrument.

(c) (1) The department shall establish and maintain a database
that allows bank sponsors to accurately update and add information
about mitigation and conservation banks. This data shall be
available on the department’s Internet Web site or accessible by
a link from the department’s Internet Web site. The available
information shall include, but is not limited to, the total number
of each type of bank credit, the types of credits sold or obligated,
the number of credits sold or obligated, the number of credits
applied, the balance of each type of credit remaining, the status of
the species and habitat at the bank, links to the bank’s long-term
management plans, and links to the complete annual monitoring
reports required by departmental policy.

(2) Information contained in the database created pursuant to
former Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 1850) on January 1,
2011, shall be incorporated into the database established pursuant
to paragraph (1).

(d) By January 1, 2014, and annually thereafter, the department
shall provide a report to the Legislature. The report shall include
the following information based on data from the previous calendar
year:

(1) Number of new bank applications, prospectuses, bank
agreement packages, and amendments received.

(2) Number of bank applications approved, rejected because
not complete, rejected because not acceptable, and withdrawn.

(3) Name of new or existing bank, geographic location, number
of acres, number of credits approved for each habitat type or
species, and number of credits sold.

(4) An accounting of fees collected pursuant to this chapter.

(5) A statement of whether or not the timelines for bank review
in this chapter were met.

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(6) Number of bank applications received for a proposed bank
site that is concurrently a federally approved conservation or
mitigation bank.

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(6)

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begin insert ( end insert begin insert 7) end insert  Other information determined by the department to be
relevant in assessing the effectiveness of the department’s
mitigation and conservation banking program.

(e) (1) The department shall collect fees to pay for all or a
portion of the department’s bank implementation and compliance
costs.

(2) The department shall collect a total payment of sixty
thousand ($60,000) per bank, apportioned by an amount that equals
the ratio of the number of credits released to the total number of
credits in the bank, and shall be identified in the bank enabling
instrument. Payments shall be due following each credit release
no later than the due date for the submission of the bank’s annual
report. The payments shall be submitted following each credit
release and no later than the time of the submission of the bank’s
annual report. The department may require the bank to cease selling
credits and may stop credit releases until these fees are paid in full.
The department shall assess a penalty of 10 percent of the amount
of fees due if there is a failure to remit the amount payable when
due.

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SECTION 1.  

It is the intent of the Legislature to enact later
legislation that would do the following:

(a) Create an expedited review and approval process by the
Department of Fish and Wildlife for an entity applying to the
Department of Fish and Wildlife to establish a conservation bank
or mitigation bank for threatened, endangered, or other special
status species if that entity already has a federally approved
conservation bank or mitigation bank for those threatened,
endangered, or other special status species for which the entity is
seeking a state approved conservation bank or mitigation bank.

(b) Require an entity to provide the Department of Fish and
Wildlife any information required by, and provided to, the
appropriate federal regulatory entity for the approval and ongoing
monitoring and oversight for compliance and effectiveness of the
federally approved conservation bank or mitigation bank, including,
but not limited to, the prospectus, any survey work information,
progress reports, and federal credits paperwork.

(c) Require the Department of Fish and Wildlife to utilize for
the expedited review and approval process the information
specified in subdivision (b).

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