California Assembly Bill AB1052 Amended / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: AB 1052AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 1, 2009 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 17, 2009 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Caballero FEBRUARY 27, 2009 An act to amend Section 7360 of,  and to repeal and add Section 7363   to amend, renumber, and add Section 7362 of, to add Section   7364 to, and to repeal Section 7363  of, the Fish and Game Code, relating to sport fishing. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1052, as amended, Caballero. Bay-Delta Sport Fishing Enhancement Stamp. Existing law prohibits a person from sport fishing in the tidal waters of the San Francisco Bay Delta and the main stem of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, including major tributaries, below the most downstream dam, unless he or she first obtains a Bay-Delta Sport Fishing Enhancement Stamp or validation and affixes that stamp or validation to a valid sport fishing license. Existing law requires the Department of Fish and Game or an authorized license agent to issue a Bay-Delta Sport Fishing Enhancement Stamp or validation upon payment of a prescribed fee. Existing law requires the funds generated by the imposition of these fees to be deposited in a separate account in the Fish and Game Preservation Fund, to be used solely for the long-term, sustainable benefit of the primary Bay-Delta sport fisheries, as specified. Existing law requires the director to appoint a 9 member Bay-Delta Sport Fishing Enhancement Stamp Fund Advisory Committee to recommend to the department projects and budgets for the expenditure of fee revenue. Those provisions are repealed as of January 1, 2010. This bill would delete that repeal, and, instead, make the stamp or validation requirement inoperative as of January 1,  2015   2012  . The bill would require the department to implement various provisions related to expenditures from the account  , and by January 1, 2011, to prepare and submit to the Legislature a report on the steps taken by the department to comply with those provisions  . The bill would require the department, in consultation with the advisory committee, to  determine appropriate projects for expenditure of the balance of funds in the account   develop a grant program  , as prescribed.  The bill would prohibit expenditures from the account for a project unless the department and a majority of the members of the advisory committee approve the expenditure.   The department would be required to post on its Internet Web site projects undertaken with funds from the account.  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. Section 7360 of the Fish and Game Code is amended to read: 7360. (a) A person shall not sport fish in the tidal waters of the San Francisco Bay Delta and the main stem of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, including major tributaries, below the most downstream dam, unless he or she first obtains, in addition to a valid California sport fishing license and any applicable stamp or validation issued pursuant to Section 7149 or 7149.05, a Bay-Delta Sport Fishing Enhancement Stamp or validation and affixes that stamp or validation to his or her valid California sport fishing license. Any person issued a sport fishing license pursuant to paragraph (4) or (5) of subdivision (a) of Section 7149 or paragraph (4) or (5) of subdivision (a) of Section 7149.05 is not subject to this division. (b) The commission may modify, by regulation, the geographic parameters specified in subdivision (a). (c) The department or an authorized license agent shall issue a Bay-Delta Sport Fishing Enhancement Stamp or validation upon payment of a base fee of five dollars ($5), in the 2004 license year, which shall be adjusted annually thereafter pursuant to Section 713. (d) This section is inoperative on and after January 1,  2015   2012  .  SEC. 2.   Section 7362 of the     Fish and Game Code   , as amended by Section 1 of Chapter 637 of the Statutes of 2008, is amended and renumbered to read:   7362.   7363.  (a) The director shall appoint a Bay-Delta Sport Fishing Enhancement Stamp Fund Advisory Committee, consisting of nine members. The committee members shall be selected from names of persons submitted by anglers and associations representing Bay-Delta anglers of this state and shall serve at the discretion of the director for terms of not more than four years. The director shall appoint persons to the committee who possess experience in subjects with specific value to the committee and shall attempt to balance the perspective of different anglers. (b) The advisory committee shall recommend to the department projects and budgets for the expenditure of revenue received pursuant to Section 7360. The department shall give full consideration to the committee's recommendations. (c) The department shall submit to the advisory committee and the Chief Clerk of the Assembly and the Secretary of the Senate for distribution to the appropriate fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature, at least annually, on or before January 10 of each year, an accounting of funds derived from the Bay-Delta Sport Fishing Enhancement Stamps and validations, including the number of stamps and validations sold, funds generated and expended,  and administrative expenditures,  and the status of programs funded pursuant to this article. In addition, the department shall report, at least annually, to the committee on the status of projects undertaken with funds from that stamp or validation, including reporting the department's reasoning in cases where committee recommendations are not followed.  (d) The department shall post on its Internet Web site projects undertaken with funds from the account established in Section 7361. At a minimum, the Internet Web site shall list the project title, applicant, a brief description of the project, the amount approved, and the project's status.   SEC. 3.   Section 7362 is added to the   Fish and Game Code   , to read:   7362. (a) The department, in consultation with the advisory committee created pursuant to Section 7363, shall develop a grant program to support activities consistent with Section 7361. (b) The department, in consultation with the advisory committee, shall develop priority areas for funding under the grant program. The department shall give the advisory committee 10 days to review any draft public solicitation notice before that notice is finalized and released to the public. (c) The advisory committee shall assist the department in providing outreach to encourage wide participation in the grant program. (d) The department shall provide the advisory committee a copy of all grant applications. The advisory committee shall have a minimum of 30 days to review projects and provide recommendations to the department.   SEC. 2.   SEC. 4.  Section 7363 of the Fish and Game Code is repealed.  SEC. 3.   SEC. 5.  Section  7363   7364  is added to the Fish and Game Code, to read:  7363.   7364.  (a) The department shall do all of the following: (1) In consultation with the advisory committee, develop a spending plan that focuses on identifying and funding viable projects and monitoring revenues to assist the department in effectively expending available stamp revenues  in a manner consistent with the purposes described in Section 7361. The spending plan shall be completed by January 31, 2010. Upon completion, a copy of the spending plan shall be provided to the   Legislature . (2) Track and report the costs of projects funded pursuant to this article by doing both of the following: (A) Improve the tracking of individual project expenditures by assigning a separate account to each project within the department's accounting system. (B) Require a project manager to approve all expenditures directly related to the manager's projects, periodically reconcile records for each project with accounting records, and report expenditures to staff responsible for preparing advisory committee reports.  (3) (A) Annually provide the advisory committee with a written report containing all of the following information:   (i) Actual project expenditures.   (ii) Detailed information on the status of each project   (iii) Total administrative expenditures.   (B) The department shall ensure the accuracy of the information described in subparagraph (A).   (4)   (3)  Reimburse the department's general fund appropriation for any lease payment charged to the department's general fund appropriation on or before January 1,  2015   2010  that was eligible to be paid from the account established in Section 7361.  (5)   (4)  Ensure that employees of the department appropriately charge their time to projects funded pursuant to this article by providing guidelines to employees concerning when to charge activities to the account established in Section 7361. (b) The department shall not charge payroll costs to the account established in Section 7361 for employee activities that are not related to the implementation of this article. The department shall determine whether any other expenditure has been inappropriately charged to the account established in Section 7361 and shall make all necessary accounting adjustments.  (c) By January 1, 2011, the department shall prepare and submit to the Legislature a report on the steps taken by the department to comply with subdivisions (a) and (b), including, but not limited to, a plan for expenditure of available stamp revenues.   (d) In consultation with the advisory committee appointed pursuant to Section 7362, the department shall determine appropriate projects for expenditure of the balance of funds in the account established in Section 7361 that will provide for long-term, sustainable benefit to Bay-Delta sport fisheries, including, but not limited to, salmon, and that are consistent with the purposes described in Section 7361.   (e) Moneys in the account established in Section 7361 shall not be expended for a project unless the expenditure has been approved by both the department and a majority of the members of the advisory committee.