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SB-692 Department of Fish and Game: sport fishing.(2003-2004)

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SB692:v95#DOCUMENT

Senate Bill No. 692
CHAPTER 796

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.

[ Filed with Secretary of State  October 11, 2003. Approved by Governor  October 10, 2003. ]

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 Those provisions are repealed as of January 1, 2004.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 The provisions described in (2) would be repealed as of January 1, 2009.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.