RES 88187 - Laserfiche WebLink

(b) For purposes of this division and Chapter 7.5 {commencing with Section 2700) of Di~'ision 3 of the Fish and Game ' Code and the State General Obligation Bond Law, the Wildlif~ Conservation Board, the Department of Parks and Rec- reation, the Department of Water Resources, the Department of Forestry, the Department of Fish and Game, the Santa Monica Mountaim Conservancy, or the State Coastal Conservancy, depending on which agency has jurisdiction, is hereby designated as "the board." 59~, The committee shall determine whether or not it is necessary or desirable to issue bonds authorized pursuant to this division in order to carry out the actions specified in Section 5907 of this code and Section 2720 of the Fish and Game Code, and, if so, the amount of bonds to be issued and sold. Successive issues of bonds may be authorized and sold to carry out those actions progressively, and it is not necessary that all of the bonds authorized to be issued be sold at any one time. 5934, There shall be collected annually in the same manner and at the same time as other state revenue is collected, in addition to the ordinary revenues of the state, a sum in an amount required to pay the principal of, and interest on, the bonds each year, and it is the duty of all officers charged by law with any duty in regard to the collection of the revenue to do and perform each and every act which is necessary to collect that additional sum. 5935, Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, there is hereby appropriated from the General Fund, for the purposes of this division, an amount that will equal the total of the following: ( 1 ) The sum annually necessary to pay the principal of, and interest on, bonds issued and sold pursuant to this division, as the principal and interest become due and payable. (2) The sum which is necessary to carry out the provisions of Section 5936, appropriated without regard to fiscal years. 5936. For the purposes of carrying out this division and Chapter 7.5 (commencing with Section 2700) of Division 3 of the Fish and Game Code, the Director of Finance may authorize the withdrawal from the General Fund of an amount or amounts not to exceed the amount of the unsold bonds which have been authorized to be sold for the purpose of carrying out those provisions. Any amounts withdrawn shall be deposited in the California Wildlife, Coastal, and Park Land Conservation Fund of 1988 or the Wildlife and Natural Areas Conservation Fund, as appropriate. Any money made available under this section shall be returned to the General Fund, plus the interest that the amounts would have earned in the Pooled Money Investment Account, from money received from the sale of bonds which would otherwise be deposited in that fund. 5937. All money derived from premium and accrued interest on bonds sold shall be reserved and shall be available for transfer to the General Fund as a credit to expenditures for bond interest. 5938. The people of California hereby find and declare that, inasmuch as the proceeds from the sale of bonds authorized by this division are not "proceeds of taxes" as that term is used in Article XIII B of the California Constitution, the disbursement of these proceeds is not subject to the limitation imposed by that article. SEC. 3. Chapter 7.5 (commencing with Section 2700) is added to Division 3 of the Fish and Game Code, to read: CHAPTER 7.5. WII.rJLIFE AND NATURAL AREAS CONSERVATION PROGRAM Article 1. General Provisions 2700. This chapter shah be known and may be cited as the Wildlife and Natural Areas Conservation Act. 2701. (a) The fundamental requirement for healthy, vigorous populations of fish and wildlife is habitat. Without adequate habitat, efforts to conserve and manage fish and wildlife resources will have liraitod success. Further, Califorma contains the greatest diversity of wildlife and plant species of virtually any state in the nation. This rich natural heritage enables Californians to enjoy a great variety of recreational, aesthetic, ecological, and other uses and benefits of these biological resources. The public interest is served only by ensuring that these resources are preserved, protected, and propagated for this and future generations. (b) Many of California's wildlife, fish, and plant species and biological communities are found nowhere else on earth. Without adequate protection and management, rare native species and communities could easily become extinct. In such an event, the benefits they provide to the people of California, whether presently realized or which remain to be discovered, will be lost forever, and California will be significantly poorer as a result. (c) The people of California have vested in the Department of Fish and Game the principal responsibility for protecting, conserving, and perpetuating native fish, plants, and wildlife, including endangered species and game animals, for their aesthetic, intrinsic, ecological, educational, and economic values. To help accomplish this goal, the people of California have further established a significant natural areas program and a natural diversity data base in the Department of Fish and Game, which is charged with maintaining and perpetuating California's most significant natural areas for present and future generations. To ensure the perpetuation of areas containing uncommon elements of natural diversity and to ensure the continued abundance of habitat for more common species, especially examples of those which are presently threatened with destruction, the purchase of land is often necessary. (d) Accordingly, the purpose of this chapter is to provide the Wildlife Conservation Board and the Department of Fish and Game the financial means to correct the most severe deficiencies in wildlife habitat and in the statewide system of areas designated for the preservation of California's natural diversity through a program of acquisition, enhancement, restoration, and protection of areas that are most in need of proper conservation. 2702. As used in this chapter, the following terms have the following meanings: (a) "Acquisition" means the acquiring of any interest in real property. (b) "Fund" means the Wildlife and Natural Areas Conservation Fund created pursuant to Section 2720. (c) "Highly rare" means a worldwide rarity in which any species or natural community occurs in 50 or fewer locations, irrespective of whether the species or any species in the community is listed as threatened or endangered or was previously listed as rare. (d) "Natural community" means a distinct, identifiable, and recurring association of plants and animals that are ecologically interrelated. ~e) "Species" means the fundamental biological unit of plant and animal classification that comprises a subdivision of a genus, but for the purposes of this chapter, "species" also includes the unit of a subspecies. Article 2. Habitat Conservation Program 2720. Moneys available for the purposes of this chapter pursuant to Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 5930) of Division 5.8 of the Public Resources Code shall be deposited in the Wildlife and Natural Areas Conservation Fund, which is hereby created. Money deposited in the fund shall be available for appropriation by the Legislature to the Wildlife Conservation Board, for expenditure pursuant to the Wildlife Conservation Law of 1947, for the following programs: (a) Forty-one million dol,~ars ($41,000,000) for the preservation of highly rare examples of the state's natural diversity through the acquisition, enhancement, restoration, or protection, or a combination thereof, offands supporting California's unique, fragile, threatened, or endangered plants, animals, and natural communities. (b) Six million dollars ($6,000,000) for the acquisition, enhancement, restoration, or protection. or a combination thereof, of critical habitat areas for fish, game mammals, and game birds, including, but not limited to. the following types: (1) Winter deer ranges. (2) Wild trout or steelhead nursery and spawning areas. 13) Significant routes of migration for wildlife. (41 Breeding, nesting, and forage areas for sage grouse and other upland game birds. For purposes of this subdivision, "enhancement" includes the construction or development of facilities for furnishing public access to lands or waters open to the public for fishing. hunting. or shooting. (c) Three million dollars t $3,000.000 ~ for the acquisition, enhancement. restoration, or protection. or any combination thereof, of lands providing habitat for threatened. endangered. or fully protected species, such as the bald eagle, San Joaquin kit fox, desert tortoise, bighorn sheep, pere~ine falcon. and California condor. 2721. Funds available pursuant to subdivision l a) of Section 2720 shall be expended to acquire, enhance, restore, or protect lands in California on which any of the following naturally exists: !a) A unique species or natural community. whose existence at a single location in California is the only known occurrence in the world of that particular species or natural community. (b) A species that occurs in only 20 or fewer locations in the world. at least one of which is in California. Ict A natural community that occurs in only 50 or fewer locations in the world. at least one of which is in California. t d) An assemblage of three or more highly rare species or natural communities. or any combination thereof, of which at least one of the svecies or natural communities is found only in 20 or fewer locations in the world.