AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 20, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

96

CHAPTER 181

Statutes of 2023

[ Approved by Governor September 8, 2023. Filed with Secretary of State September 8, 2023. ]

Introduced by Senator Umberg

February 15, 2023

An act to add Section 6404 to the Fish and Game Code, relating to fish.

Vote: majority   Appropriation: no   Fiscal committee: yes   Local program: no

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

Existing law establishes the Department of Fish and Wildlife and prescribes the functions and responsibilities of the department with regard to the implementation, administration, and enforcement of laws regulating fish and wildlife in the state.

This bill would require the department, before January 1 of each year, to make publicly available on the department’s internet website a specified annual document that contains conditional or provisional plans for freshwater fish plants. The bill would require the department, as part of this document, to include a disclaimer that states that the fish plants are not completely certain to occur as planned and that the department may not be able to adhere to the provisional stocking dates and places due to various unforeseen conditions, as specified. The bill would also require the disclaimer to include a statement referring the public to the Fish Planting Schedule on the department’s internet website for more up-to-date and accurate information about fish plants.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Section 6404 is added to the Fish and Game Code, immediately following Section 6403, to read:

6404.

(a) It is the intent of the Legislature to make the Annual Provisional Stocking Document available to the public, recognizing that this document expresses the department’s intended plans for fish plants and that the department’s execution of these plans is not guaranteed.

(b) The department, before January 1 of each year, shall make an updated Annual Provisional Stocking Document publicly available on the department’s internet website.

(c) The department, as part of the document required pursuant to subdivision (b), shall include a disclaimer stating that these fish plants are not completely certain to occur as planned. The disclaimer shall include a statement that the department may not be able to adhere to the provisional stocking dates and places due to various unforeseen conditions, including, but not limited to, weather, disease, staffing, and funding. The disclaimer shall also include a statement referring the public to the Fish Planting Schedule on the department’s internet website for more up-to-date and accurate information about fish plants.

(d) As used in this section, the “Annual Provisional Stocking Document,” also known as the “Provisional Fish Release Plans for the Current Fiscal Year,” means a document used by the department that contains conditional or provisional plans for freshwater fish plants.