AB 2045

The Habitat Restoration and Enhancement Act authorizes a project proponent to submit a habitat restoration or enhancement project to the Director of Fish and Wildlife for approval. The act requires the Department of Fish and Wildlife to assess an application fee for a project submitted to the department consistent with specified fees adopted by the department, as provided. Under the act, a habitat restoration or enhancement project is a project with the primary purpose of improving fish and wildlife habitat. The act requires the director to approve a habitat restoration or enhancement project if the director determines that specified conditions are met. Under the act, the director’s approval of a habitat restoration or enhancement project is in lieu of any other permit, agreement, license, or other approval issued by the Department of Fish and Wildlife. The act makes moneys in the Habitat Restoration and Enhancement Account available to the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purposes of administering and implementing the act. Existing law repeals the act on January 1, 2027. This bill would extend the operation of the act until January 1, 2032, and would require the department to submit a report on the implementation of the act to the Legislature no later than December 31, 2029. The bill would eliminate the requirement for the application fee to be consistent with other specified fees adopted by the department and would instead authorize the department to establish a graduated schedule of fees. The bill would revise the required contents of an application for a habitat restoration or enhancement project, as provided, and would transfer the responsibilities of the director under the act to the department. The act establishes separate procedures for the approval of a habitat restoration or enhancement project depending on whether the project has received a specified certification pursuant to an order from the State Water Resources Control Board. As part of the procedures applicable to a project that has received that certification, the act requires the director to publish the receipt of certain information from the project proponent, and the director’s determination on whether the application is complete, in the California Regulatory Notice Register. This bill would eliminate the requirement to publish that information in the California Regulatory Notice Register. The act requires the director to suspend the implementation of a project under certain circumstances, as specified. This bill would eliminate those provisions. Existing law enumerates fully protected species and prohibits the take of fully protected species, except under limited circumstances. This bill would require the department’s approval of a habitat restoration or enhancement project under the act to authorize the incidental take of a fully protected species resulting from impacts attributable to or otherwise related to the project.