BILL NUMBER: AB 2488 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 21, 2016
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 9, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 14, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 31, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 17, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Dababneh
( Coauthor: Senator
Hertzberg )
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,
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, as specified, if certain conditions
conditions, including the adoption of an adap tive
management process, are satisfied. The bill would require
the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, if it applies
for and receives a permit under the bill, to report to the
department on July 1, 2018, and every 10 years thereafter, on the
effectiveness of the adaptive management process in contributing to
the conservation of the unarmored threespine stickleback.
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.
(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
The Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Metropolitan Water
District of Southern California 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. that may be adopted pursuant to Section
2081.10 of the Fish and Game Code to design these measures to be
consistent with any state or federal wildlife agency recovery plan
adopted for the long-term conservation of the unarmored threespine
stickleback in the Santa Clara River watershed.
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
repair, including emergency 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
determines 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. take and to satisfy the
conservation standard of subdivision (d) of Section 2805.
(4) A biologist will be who has
substantial relevant experience evaluating impacts to inland
fisheries is on duty whenever an activity is conducted that may
affect the unarmored threespine stickleback.
(5) The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
consults with the department 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.
(b) The take authorization shall cover any incidental take of
unarmored threespine stickleback attributable to the periodic
dewatering, inspection, maintenance, modification, or repair
repair, including emergency 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) The permit issued pursuant to subdivision (a) shall include
conditions that cover biological and scientific considerations
including, but not limited to, criteria for the handling of stranded
fish and their replacement into the stream, the dewatering of the
Foothill Feeder, and the reasonable and feasible mimicking of
streamflows. The permit conditions shall be in substantial compliance
with the certified environmental impact report known as the
"Foothill Feeder Repair and Future Inspections Project Environmental
Impact Report, January 2005, State Clearinghouse Number 2005071082."
The permit conditions are subject to amendment when required by the
adaptive management process or when modified by a subsequent final
environmental document pursuant to the California Environmental
Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the
Public Resources Code).
(d)
( e) This section shall not be construed to
exempt from any other law the periodic dewatering, inspection,
maintenance, modification, or repair of the Foothill Feeder.
(f) If the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
applies for and receives a permit under this Section, the district
shall report on July 1, 2018, and every 10 years thereafter, to the
department in a report that is available to the public on the
effectiveness of the adaptive management process in contributing to
the conservation of the unarmored threespine stickleback.
(e)
( g) As used in this section, "modification"
does not include alterations to expand the maximum physical capacity
of the Foothill Feeder to deliver water.
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).