Official Summary Text
AB 2032, as amended, Ransom.
Fish and wildlife: golden mussels.
(1) Existing law, until January 1, 2030, generally prohibits a person from possessing, importing, shipping, or transporting in the state, or from placing, planting, or causing to be placed or planted in any water within the state, invasive mussels, as defined. Existing law requires a public or private agency that operates a water supply system to cooperate with the Department of Fish and Wildlife to implement measures to avoid infestation by invasive mussels and to control or eradicate any infestation that may occur in a water supply system, and, if invasive mussels are detected, to prepare and implement a plan, as specified, to control or eradicate invasive mussels within the system (control plan).
Existing law prohibits the importation, transportation, possession, or live release of specified wild animals, except under
a revocable, nontransferable permit, known as a restricted species permit, issued by the department, in cooperation with the Department of Food and Agriculture, and only if certain requirements are met.
Existing law authorizes the department to issue permits, commonly known as scientific collecting permits, to take or possess any form of plant or animal life for scientific, educational, or propagation purposes.
This bill would exempt from the requirement to obtain a restricted species permit for golden mussels a public or private agency that operates a water supply system and has submitted a control plan to the department for maintenance and operational activities
to control the spread of golden mussels
in the water supply system, as specified. The bill would provide that this exemption remains in effect for a particular public or private
agency until the department determines the agency’s control plan does not meet the statutory requirements for control plans or approves the control plan.
This bill would require the department’s Invasive Species Program to develop, by April 1, 2027, voluntary guidance for public and private agencies that operate water supply systems to develop effective control plans. The bill would also require the department’s Invasive Species Program to develop and publish, by April 1, 2027, guidance for scientific research conducted by or for public and private agencies that operate water supply systems to control the spread of golden mussels, as specified. The bill would authorize a public or private agency that operates a water supply system and does not have an approved control plan to submit to the department a streamlined project proposal for golden mussel scientific research, as specified, and would require those project proposals to comply with the department’s scientific
research guidance. The bill would exempt scientific research described in those project proposals from scientific collecting permits and restricted species permits for golden mussels. The bill would provide that this exemption terminates for a particular public or private agency upon the agency’s submission of a control plan to the department.
This bill would require the department to update the spatial distribution maps of golden mussel-infested water bodies posted on its internet website no less than quarterly based on monitoring and reported detections, as prescribed.
(2) Existing law requires every manufacturer of, importer of, or dealer in any pesticide, except as specified, to obtain a certificate of registration from the Department of Pesticide Regulation before the pesticide is offered for sale. Existing law requires the Director of Pesticide Regulation to endeavor to eliminate from use in the
state specified pesticides, and in carrying out this responsibility, to develop an orderly program for the continuous evaluation of all pesticides actually registered, as specified.
Under existing law, the State Water Resources Control Board and the 9 California regional water quality control boards regulate water quality and prescribe waste discharge requirements in accordance with the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act and the national pollutant discharge elimination system permit program.
This bill would require, in response to an invasive species threat, including, but not limited to, the threat of golden mussels, the department, state board, and regional boards to work with state and local agencies in order to quickly and efficiently respond to the threat. The bill would require the department and state board to identify any tools available to assist a state or local agency in rapidly responding to the invasive
species threat and to help identify any existing processes that allow for the rapid use of any tool that could be used to address the invasive species threat and enables a streamlined or faster administrative or procedural process. The bill would require the state board, if necessary, to help coordinate efforts between the regional boards in response to a threat of an invasive species.
(3) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.