BILL NUMBER: AB 1253	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 11, 2009
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 5, 2009

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly  Member   Fuller
  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.
   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  Programmatic   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.
   This bill would require the board 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 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.
   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 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 reduce  predation effects   the effects
of predation  . The review shall also include a review 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.
   (b) After completing the review required by subdivision (a), the
Independent Science Board 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 recommends additional
studies, recommendations for the design and scope of those studies
and an estimate of the total costs for the studies.