BILL NUMBER: SB 692 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 796
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE OCTOBER 11, 2003
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR OCTOBER 10, 2003
PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 11, 2003
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 9, 2003
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 2, 2003
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 21, 2003
INTRODUCED BY Senator Kuehl
FEBRUARY 21, 2003
An act to amend Sections 853, 7360, 7361, 7362, and 7363 of, and
to repeal Section 7360.1 of, the Fish and Game Code, relating to the
Department of Fish and Game, and making an appropriation therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 692, Kuehl. Department of Fish and Game: sport fishing.
(1) Existing law requires the Department of Fish and Game to
prepare a report relating to deputized employees by March 31, 1993.
Copies of the report are required to be made available.
This bill would delete that obsolete provision.
(2) Existing law prohibits taking of striped bass in a sport
fishery without a license. Those provisions are repealed as of
January 1, 2004.
This bill would instead establish provisions relating to sport
fishing in the San Francisco Bay and delta, including prohibiting a
person from sport fishing in the San Francisco Bay and delta 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. The bill would set a base fee of $5 for that stamp
or validation, which fee would be adjusted annually. The bill would
require that fees received for that stamp or validation shall be
deposited in a separate account in the Fish and Game Preservation
Fund, and would require the department to expend the funds in that
account for the long-term, sustainable benefit of the primary
bay-delta sport fisheries. The bill would require the director of
the department to appoint a San Francisco Bay-Delta Sport Fishing
Enhancement Stamp Fund Advisory Committee. The provisions described
in (2) would be repealed as of January 1, 2009.
Under existing law, violation of the Fish and Game Code is a
misdemeanor. By changing the scope of a crime, the bill would impose
a state-mandated local program.
(3) Existing law continuously appropriates money in the Fish and
Game Preservation Fund to the Department of Fish and Game and the
Fish and Game Commission to pay all necessary expenses incurred in
carrying out the Fish and Game Code, and to pay the compensation and
expenses of the commissioners and employees of the commission.
Unless otherwise provided, all money collected under the code is
deposited in the fund.
By imposing new duties on the department, and increasing revenues
deposited in the fund, the bill would make an appropriation.
(4) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
Appropriation: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 853 of the Fish and Game Code is amended to
read:
853. The director may deputize any employee of the department to
check persons for licenses required under Section 7145 and to enforce
any violation of that section. Before a person is deputized
pursuant to this section for the first time, the person shall have
satisfactorily completed a training course meeting the minimum
standards of, and comparable to, the training for "level III reserve"
as set forth in the regulations of the Commission on Peace Officer
Standards and Training. Any person, who is deputized for this
limited purpose pursuant to this section, may not enforce any other
provision of this code, and is not a peace officer subject to Chapter
4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2 of the Penal
Code.
SEC. 2. 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 sport fishing license.
(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.
SEC. 3. Section 7360.1 of the Fish and Game Code is repealed.
SEC. 4. Section 7361 of the Fish and Game Code is amended to read:
7361. Fees received by the department pursuant to Section 7360
shall be deposited in a separate account in the Fish and Game
Preservation Fund. The department shall expend the funds in that
account for the long-term, sustainable benefit of the primary
bay-delta sport fisheries, including, but not limited to, striped
bass, sturgeon, black bass, halibut, salmon, surf perch, steelhead
trout, and American shad. Funds shall be expended to benefit sport
fish populations, sport fishing opportunities, and anglers within the
geographic parameters established in Section 7360, and consistent
with state and federal Endangered Species Act requirements and
applicable commission policies. It is the intent of the Legislature
that these funds be used to augment, not replace, funding that would
otherwise be allocated to bay-delta sport fisheries from the sale of
fishing licenses, the California Bay-Delta Authority, or other
federal, state, or local funding sources.
SEC. 5. Section 7362 of the Fish and Game Code is amended to read:
7362. (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 committee, at least
annually, 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 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.
SEC. 6. Section 7363 of the Fish and Game Code is amended to read:
7363. This article shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2009, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute
that is enacted before January 1, 2009, deletes or extends that
date.
SEC. 7. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.