Bill Text: CA AB559 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Monarch butterflies: conservation.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2015-10-04 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 478, Statutes of 2015. [AB559 Detail]
Download: California-2015-AB559-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 559 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 478
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE OCTOBER 4, 2015
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR OCTOBER 4, 2015
PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 10, 2015
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 11, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 4, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 26, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 16, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Lopez
FEBRUARY 23, 2015
An act to add Section 1021 to the Fish and Game Code, relating to
monarch butterflies.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 559, Lopez. Monarch butterflies: conservation.
Existing law establishes the Department of Fish and Wildlife and
sets forth the duties of that department, which include administering
various programs for the protection and conservation of fish and
wildlife resources.
This bill would authorize the department to take feasible actions
to conserve monarch butterflies and the unique habitats they depend
upon for successful migration. The bill would authorize the
department to partner with federal agencies, nonprofit organizations,
academic programs, private landowners, and other entities that
undertake actions to conserve monarch butterflies and aid their
successful migration, including the Monarch Joint Venture. The bill
would require the department, when undertaking actions to conserve
monarch butterflies and their habitats, to use the best available
science and consider taking specified actions.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature hereby finds and declares the
following:
(a) Monarch butterflies are a favorite butterfly of people
throughout North America and concern for their survival brings people
together like few other wildlife species such that, in February
2014, the United States, Mexico, and Canada joined efforts to ensure
monarch butterfly recovery.
(b) Monarch butterfly populations have declined significantly in
the past 20 years to where the eastern population has lost 90 percent
of historical numbers and the western population has shrunk to 50
percent of historical numbers. California is the only state to host
significant numbers of overwintering monarch butterflies.
(c) While adult butterflies may obtain nectar from many different
plants, monarch caterpillars can only survive when native milkweed
plants are available for food. Of the 72 native milkweed species in
the United States, several exist in California, including six that
are endemic.
(d) Milkweed habitat and density have declined significantly in
the eastern United States, and it is suspected that they have also
declined in the West. This has negatively impacted monarch
butterflies as well as native bees, honeybees, and other beneficial
insects, including insect predators of crop pests.
(e) Since nearly one-third of the most promising California winter
habitat for monarch butterflies is on privately owned land,
collaboration with landowners is critical. Fortunately, many
landowners are some of the strongest advocates for protecting and
restoring overwintering and breeding habitat for the monarch
butterfly.
(f) Current environmental protection laws, including those
concerning conservation planning, have not adequately protected
monarch butterflies, creating a need for additional collaborative
measures.
(g) While several federal agencies, including the Natural Resource
Conservation Service, the Farm Service Agency, the United States
Forest Service, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and the
Federal Highway Administration, are undertaking initiatives to
protect and restore monarch butterflies, California needs to take
additional initiatives to guide and support monarch butterfly
conservation.
(h) Numerous public and private research entities and
nongovernmental organizations are undertaking research and gathering
information that could significantly contribute to California's
efforts to protect and conserve monarch butterflies.
SEC. 2. Section 1021 is added to the Fish and Game Code, to read:
1021. (a) The department may take feasible actions to conserve
monarch butterflies and the unique habitats they depend upon for
successful migration. These actions may include, but are not limited
to, habitat restoration on department lands, education programs, and
voluntary agreements with private landowners.
(b) The department may partner with federal agencies, nonprofit
organizations, academic programs, private landowners, and other
entities that undertake actions to conserve monarch butterflies and
aid their successful migration, including the Monarch Joint Venture.
(c) When undertaking actions to conserve monarch butterflies and
their habitats pursuant to this section, the department shall use the
best available science and consider, as appropriate and feasible,
all of the following:
(1) Restoring or revegetating monarch caterpillar habitat using
regionally or locally appropriate native milkweed species.
(2) Restoring or revegetating adult monarch butterfly habitat
using regionally or locally appropriate native nectar plant species.
(3) Controlling nonnative weed species that threaten native
milkweed species, and controlling pests and disease, using current
best management practices consistent with integrated pest management
principles that pose low risk to monarch butterflies and their
habitat.
(4) Incorporating diverse tree species, structures, and
arrangements when restoring or establishing winter habitat sites to
match monarch butterfly preferences for temperature, light, moisture,
wind, and other microclimate characteristics.
(5) Increasing the number of partnerships and making the most of
partnerships to use residential and institutional landscaped areas,
agricultural noncropped lands, transportation corridors, and
conservation easements to create, restore, or enhance monarch
butterfly habitat.
(d) The fact that a project applicant or landowner does not enter
into a voluntary agreement to protect monarch butterflies shall not
be grounds for denying a permit or agreement or requiring additional
mitigation beyond what would be required to mitigate project impacts
under other applicable laws, including, but not limited to, the
California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with
Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code).
