Wildlife: bears.

Plain English Breakdown

The bill summary does not specify the exact conditions under which reintroduction would be prohibited. It only mentions that implementation is contingent upon an appropriation and requires completion of a roadmap among other actions.

Wildlife: Bears

This law changes how grizzly bears are treated under wildlife rules and requires the Department of Fish and Wildlife to study if it's safe and good to bring back grizzly bears in California.

What This Bill Does

• Excludes grizzly bears from existing laws that apply to black and brown bears, such as hunting restrictions.
• Requires the Department of Fish and Wildlife to create a plan by June 30, 2030, about bringing back grizzly bears.
• The plan must look at if it's possible and good for the environment to have grizzly bears again in California.

Who It Names or Affects

• The Department of Fish and Wildlife
• People who hunt or trap bears

Terms To Know

Game mammal

A type of animal that can be hunted under certain rules.

Reintroduction

Bringing back an animal species to a place where it used to live but is no longer found there.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill only applies if the state gives money for its implementation.
• It does not say exactly when grizzly bears might be reintroduced, if at all.

Official Summary Text

SB 1305, as amended, Richardson.
Wildlife: bears.
Existing law classifies “black and brown or cinnamon bears (genus Euarctos)” as a game mammal for purposes of managing, taking, or hunting that species. Existing law makes it unlawful to take a bear using a firearm, trap, or bow and arrow without first procuring a tag authorizing the taking. Existing law also makes it unlawful for a person to take a bear with an iron or steel-jawed or any type of metal-jawed traps. In any part of a district within the Counties of San Bernardino and Riverside, existing law authorizes the taking of bears at any time with traps within a good and substantial fence surrounding beehives, as specified.
This bill would exclude grizzly bear from the application of the above-described provisions.
Existing law establishes the Department of Fish and Wildlife in the Natural
Resources Agency. Under existing law, the department has jurisdiction over the conservation, protection, and management of fish, wildlife, native plants, and habitat necessary for biologically sustainable populations of those species.
This bill would require the department to develop and make publicly available a roadmap that evaluates whether, and under what conditions, reintroduction of the grizzly bear is feasible and advisable, and the extent to which the ecological functions once provided by the grizzly bear may be restored through human-mediated landscape restoration, including through reintroduction of the species. The bill would also require the department, by June 30, 2030, to submit the roadmap document to relevant budget and policy committees of the Legislature, the Legislative Analyst’s Office, and the Fish and Game Commission. The bill would prohibit reintroduction of the grizzly bear in the state until the department or others have
carried out various actions, including, among other things, completion of the roadmap, determinations, based on the best available science, that establishment of a self-sustaining grizzly population in the state is biologically viable, and a consultation with California Native American tribes and engagement with communities, as specified.
The bill would make implementation of these provisions contingent upon an appropriation, except as specified.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF