Amended  IN  Senate  June 29, 2023
Amended  IN  Assembly  March 22, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 809

Introduced by Assembly Member Bennett

February 13, 2023

An act to add Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 6950) to Part 1 of Division 6 of the Fish and Game Code, relating to salmon.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 809, as amended, Bennett. Salmonid populations: California Monitoring Program Fund.
Existing law requires the Department of Fish and Wildlife to contract with the University of California to conduct a study on the effects of reduced waterflows in certain rivers on salmon and steelhead populations and restoration or reintroduction programs, subject to the availability of funds. Additionally, the Salmon, Steelhead Trout, and Anadromous Fisheries Program Act, among other things, requires the department, with the advice of specified committees, to prepare and maintain a detailed and comprehensive program for the protection and increase of salmon, steelhead trout, and anadromous fisheries.
This bill would require the department to establish the California Monitoring Program to collect comprehensive data on anadromous salmonid populations, in coordination with relevant federal and state agencies, to inform salmon and steelhead recovery, conservation, and management activities. The bill would authorize the department to consult with local agencies, tribes, conservation organizations, and academic institutions to carry out monitoring efforts under the program. The bill would establish the California Monitoring Program Fund in the State Treasury to, upon appropriation by the Legislature, support the program. The bill would specify the types of moneys that may be deposited into the fund and would make related findings and declarations. The bill would make operation of the above-mentioned provisions contingent upon an appropriation in the annual Budget Act or another statute for these purposes.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   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) Due to water damming and diversions, habitat degradation, climate change, and aridification, California salmon and steelhead populations have declined dramatically and have completely disappeared from many streams. Most of California’s anadromous salmonid species are listed under the California Endangered Species Act (Chapter 1.5 (commencing with Section 2050) of Division 3) and the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. Sec. 1531 et seq.).
(b) Salmon and steelhead trout have high cultural, ecologic, economic, nutritional, and recreational value. They are critical to ecosystem health, and human communities depend on salmon and steelhead trout for both protein and income. Salmon also figure centrally in the worldview and daily life of indigenous people.
(c) The Coastal Monitoring Program was created in 2011 by the Department of Fish and Wildlife and the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service to provide comprehensive data on endangered anadromous fish populations to inform agency species status reviews, state and federal recovery plan implementation, and management activities. The program is currently expanding to include the anadromous rivers of the Central Valley and is now referred to as the California Monitoring Program.
(d) The California Monitoring Program provides critical data to ensure that the hundreds of millions of dollars invested by the state annually in the recovery of these iconic fish species through watershed and fishery restoration grant programs are invested strategically and effectively.
(e) Reliable funding of the California Monitoring Program is necessary to ensure continuous operation of this program and to eliminate data gaps.
(f) To date, the California Monitoring Program has been funded through temporary funds, including bond funding, which is no longer sufficient to maintain this program’s essential monitoring activities.
(g) The California Monitoring Program Fund will provide a dedicated long-term source of funding to ensure robust, comprehensive, and long-term monitoring of salmonid species.

SEC. 2.

 Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 6950) is added to Part 1 of Division 6 of the Fish and Game Code, to read:
CHAPTER  9. California Monitoring Program

6950.
 For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions apply:
(a) “Fund” means the California Monitoring Program Fund created pursuant to Section 6952.
(b) “Local agencies” means local agencies that have a role in the conservation, restoration, and management of salmonid species.

(b)

(c) “Program” means the California Monitoring Program established pursuant to this chapter.

(c)

(d) “Relevant agencies” means state and federal agencies that have a role in the conservation, restoration, and management of salmonid species.
(e) “Tribe” has the same meaning as defined in Section 1452.

6951.
 The department shall establish the California Monitoring Program to collect comprehensive data on anadromous salmonid populations, in coordination with relevant federal and state agencies, to inform salmon and steelhead recovery, conservation, and management activities. The department may consult with local agencies, tribes, conservation organizations, and academic institutions to carry out monitoring efforts under the program.

6952.
 (a) The California Monitoring Program Fund is hereby established in the State Treasury to fund monitoring of California salmonid species. Moneys in the fund shall be available for expenditure, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to support the California Monitoring Program and the activities described in Section 6951.
(b) All of the following may be deposited into the fund:
(1) Sums the Legislature may appropriate.
(2) Moneys received from federal, state, or other sources, including bond funds, for the purposes of the program.
(3) Grants, awards, donations, gifts, transfers, or moneys derived from private sources for the purpose of the program established in Section 6951.
(4) Moneys derived from interest, dividends, or other income from the above sources.

6953.
 The operation of this chapter is contingent upon an appropriation in the annual Budget Act or another statute for purposes of this chapter.