GBF Legislative

Action

(January 11, 2007) - Last year there was an effort by the Republicans in Congress to weaken the Endangered Species Act and fortunately that effort did not succeed.  Here is a list of some of the new, key committee members.
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Endangered Species Act legislative update:
New Environmental Leadership

In the 110th Congress, many environmental champions will be in leading the charge to save our environment, and leading the committees with jurisdiction over our nation’s environmental laws.

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) will be the chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee with Senator Joseph Lieberman chairing the subcommittee with jurisdiction over the Endangered Species Act. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) will chair an important Appropriations subcommittee- Interior, Environment and Related Agencies. This subcommittee provides funds for the programs of the Endangered Species Act.

On the House side, Natural has returned to the title of the House Natural Resources Committee. Representative Nick Rahall (D-WV) will be chair of the committee, replacing ousted Rep. Richard Pombo. Representative Norm Dicks (D-WA) will chair the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies appropriations subcommittee. The other Democratic members of this subcommittee will be Jim Moran, VA; Maurice Hinchey, NY; John Olver, MA; Alan Mollohan,WV; Tom Udall, NM; Ben Chandler, KY; and Ed Pastor, AZ.

Other committee and subcommittees assignments are still being determined in the Senate and House by party leadership. We will work to keep you updated on these assignments.

Can GBF Advocate?

At our August 2005 monthly meeting I requested that club members contact Governor Schwarzenegger's office to support the passing of State Assembly Bill 7 (AB7), and I also said that the GBF Board had not taken a position on this matter.  The reason the Board had not taken a position was simply a matter of timing.  Both the NCCFFF and Cal Trout have come out strongly in favor of AB7 and it is highly likely that the GBF Board would have done the same had they been given the opportunity before the monthly meeting.  The problem was simply one of timing between my learning more about AB7 and our monthly meeting being held before our monthly Board meeting.  

This leads to another recent question about what our 501(c)(3) nonprofit, tax exempt corporation may and may not do regarding political action.  Basically, we can inform members about issues (our information does not have to be balanced), we can encourage members to call or write public officials and we can encourage members to speak either in favor or against issues at public events. We can also encourage members to vote in a certain way, but this may not be the primary purpose of the club (political action) and we can't demand that our members vote a certain way or that they will be penalized in any way.  To my knowledge GBF has not acted outside of the law and if anything we've been too timid in our support of legislation that supports our fantastic sport.

Certainly GBF needs to concentrate on the fishing aspect of our sport and I believe that the club does a fine job of presenting outstanding speakers, a terrific variety of great fishouts, and extremely informative clinics.  In addition to enjoying fishing today, we need to spend an appropriate amount of time (a little or a lot) protecting those opportunities for future generations.  

The Conservation Committee encourages all GBF members to become active in issues that may impact our sport and we welcome your questions regarding legislation or other water-related matters.  Please contact me if you have questions or comments regarding GBF's conservation mission.

916-870-5253

- AB 7 - (Cogdill)  Sport fishing: license revenues: fish hatchery -  passed and signed by the Governor in 2004. 

 

Commencing July 1, 2006, 33 1/3% of the fees derived from the issuance of all sport fishing licenses, with the exception of revenue currently designated for deposit into Abalone Restoration and Preservation Account, be deposited into the Hatchery and Inland Fisheries Fund, which the bill would establish in the State Treasury. The bill would provide that moneys in the fund may be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to support programs of the Department of Fish and Game related to the management, maintenance, and capital improvement of California's fish hatcheries, the Heritage and Wild Trout Program, and enforcement activities related thereto, and to support other activities eligible to be funded from revenue generated by sport fishing license fees.

 

The bill would require the sport fishing license fees collected and subject to appropriation to be used to attain state fish hatchery production goals relating to the release of trout, as specified, to fund regional permanent positions, seasonal aides, and other activities in the Heritage and Wild Trout Program, and to the department to initiate and manage the restoration of naturally indigenous genetic stocks of trout to their original California source watersheds.  The bill would authorize the use of funds in the Hatchery and Inland Fisheries Fund to be used for the purpose of obtaining scientifically valid genetic determinations of California native trout stocks.  The bill would also require the department, by July 1, 2008, and biennially thereafter, to report to the Legislature on the implementation of provisions of the bill, as specified.

 

- AB 1328 (Wolk) (Coauthor: Berg) (Coauthors: Senators Chesbro and Machado)

Cache Creek Wild and Scenic River - Passed and signed by the Governor in November, 2005.

 

The federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act includes specified rivers and segments thereof within the California Wild and Scenic River system, which are subject to various protections under the act.

 

This bill would include within the system Cache Creek from ¼ mile below Cache Creek Dam to Camp Haswell and North Fork Cache Creek from the Highway 20 bridge to the confluence with the mainstem, and would designate various segments as wild, scenic, or recreational.

 

The bill would prohibit the Governor or an employee of a state agency or department from applying for or expending funds preparing an application for the designation of any portion of Cache Creek as a component of the national wild and scenic rivers system under the federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

 

- SB 857 (Kuehl) Migratory Fish Passage - Funding of CalTrans survey of all river and stream crossings. Bill directs CalTrans to provide "barrier free" crossings on all future projects and submit survey results to DFG to assist in prioritizing current barrier elimination work already underway.  Per Bill Craven of Senator Khuel's staff: this bill was passed and signed by the Governor in October, 2005.

 

Fish passages.    Existing law provides that the Department of Transportation has full possession and control of all state highways.

 

This bill would require the department to prepare an annual report to the Legislature describing the status of the department's progress in locating, assessing, and remediating barriers to fish passage, as defined. The bill would require the department also to complete assessments of potential barriers to anadromous fish prior to commencing any project using state or federal transportation funds.

 

The bill would require the department to submit these assessments to the Department of Fish and Game to be added to the CALFISH database. The bill would also require projects to be constructed without presenting barriers to fish passage.

 

Existing law prohibits the construction or maintenance, in certain fish and game districts, of any device or contrivance that prevents, impedes, or tends to prevent or impede, the passing of fish up and down stream.

 

This bill would revise the fish and game districts in which this prohibition applies.
 

- SB 904 (Chesbro) Wild & Scenic Rivers Act amendment. SB 904 passed and was signed by the Gov. It increases protections of the South Yuba River which is designated as a recreational river as part of the State Wild and Scenic River program.

 

This bill would change the definition of "special treatment areas" to also include specific locations that are within 200 feet of the watercourse transition line of state-designated recreational rivers, that may be at risk during timber operations.  The bill would specify
that the requirements related to timber operations within special treatment areas apply to areas adjacent to wild, scenic, or recreational river segments.

Links for more information:

California Legislature Information - this is the official site for information about the California Assembly and Senate. http://www.legislature.ca.gov/  You can find information and status on any Senate or Assembly bill by entering the bill number and appropriate session year.

Little Hoover Commission Reports - this site has a list of many downloadable reports which are comprehensive analyses of various state issues. Report numbers of particular interest to GBF's conservation efforts are at the following links to Adobe PDF documents (caution - large files):

Report 183.  Still Imperiled, Still Important - The Little Hoover Commission's Review of the CALFED Bay-Delta Program (November, 2005) 3 MB Adobe PDF

 

Report 99. Report on California's Fish and Game Commission and Department of Fish and Game (January, 1990) 8 MByte Adobe PDF Scan

Civics 101 in the Internet Age:

In Granite Bay or other unincorporated areas without a City government, your first level of contact is your representative on the County Board of Supervisors.  Unincorporated Granite Bay has a Municipal Advisory Committee (MAC) that is appointed and serves in an advisory capacity to Supervisor Ted Gaines.