SECTIONS 2098-2100 - California Statutes

FISH AND GAME CODE

SECTION 2098-2100

2098. The department shall pay the costs of administration of this
chapter from the Endangered and Rare Fish, Wildlife, and Plant
Species Conservation and Enhancement Account in the Fish and Game
Preservation Fund.

2099. (a) For purposes of this section, the following terms have
the following meanings:
(1) "Eligible project" means a solar thermal powerplant or
photovoltaic powerplant meeting the requirements of paragraphs (1)
and (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 2069.
(2) "Energy Commission" means the State Energy Resources
Conservation and Development Commission.
(b) (1) The Renewable Energy Resources Development Fee Trust Fund
is hereby established in the State Treasury. The department shall
collect a fee from the owner or developer of an eligible project that
elects to use mitigation actions developed and approved by the
department pursuant to Section 2069, and all moneys received for
purposes of mitigation actions pursuant to Section 2069 shall be
deposited in the fund and shall be held in trust and be expended
solely for the purposes of, and in conformity with, that section,
applicable permit or certification requirements for eligible
projects, and any contractual agreement between the Energy Commission
or department and the owner or developer of an eligible project. The
department may contract with, or award grants to, third parties to
implement mitigation actions in conformity with Section 2069 and this
section.
(2) Upon direction by the department, the Controller shall create
any accounts or subaccounts within the fund that the department
determines are necessary or convenient to facilitate management of
the fund.
(3) The fund shall serve, and be managed, as an optional,
voluntary method for developers or owners of eligible projects to
deposit fees to complete mitigation actions meeting the conditions of
subdivision (c) of Section 2069 and for the purpose of meeting the
requirements of this chapter or the requirements of Chapter 6
(commencing with Section 25500) of Division 15 of the Public
Resources Code. Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code,
the money in the fund is hereby continuously appropriated to the
department, without regard to fiscal years, for the purposes
enumerated in this section and Section 2069. An expenditure shall not
be made from the fund except as authorized by the department.
(4) The sum of ten million dollars ($10,000,000) is hereby
transferred, as a loan, from the Renewable Resource Trust Fund to the
fund. This loan shall be repaid from the fund to the Renewable
Resource Trust Fund no later than December 31, 2012. The department
shall use these funds, pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (c)
of Section 2069, to purchase mitigation lands or conservation
easements, and to cover related restoration, monitoring, and
transaction costs incurred in advance of the receipt of fees pursuant
to paragraph (5) and to cover the department's administrative costs
for the program.
(5) A developer or owner of an eligible project that elects to use
mitigation actions developed and authorized by the department
pursuant to Section 2069 shall remit fees to the department for
deposit into the fund for those mitigation actions in an amount that
reflects the determination by the Energy Commission, with respect to
a solar thermal powerplant, or the department, with respect to a
solar photovoltaic powerplant, of the costs attributable to the
mitigation actions that meet the standards of this chapter. The
amount of fees to be paid by a developer or owner of an eligible
project to meet the standards of this chapter shall be calculated on
a per acre basis, using total cost accounting, and shall include, as
applicable, land acquisition or conservation easement costs,
monitoring costs, restoration costs, transaction costs, the amount of
a nonwasting endowment account for land management or easement
stewardship costs by the department or other management entity, and
administrative costs and funds sufficient to repay any expenditure of
state funds made pursuant to paragraph (4). To ensure the funds
deposited pursuant to this section are sufficient to meet the
standards of this chapter, the project developer or owner, in
addition to payment of those funds, shall provide security, in a form
and amount, not to exceed 5 percent of the amount of the funds,
excluding any portion of the funds to be used for a nonwasting
endowment, to be determined by the Energy Commission, with respect to
a solar thermal powerplant, or to be determined by the department,
with respect to a solar photovoltaic powerplant.
(c) The department shall monitor the implementation of the
mitigation actions and the progress of the construction of the
eligible projects. The department shall report all deposits, and the
source of those deposits, on its Internet Web site. The department
shall also report all expenditures from the fund on its Internet Web
site and identify the mitigation activities or programs that each
expenditure funded and its relationship to the permitted project. The
Energy Commission, with respect to a solar thermal powerplant, and
the department, with respect to a solar photovoltaic powerplant,
shall ensure that moneys paid pursuant to this section are used only
for purposes of satisfying the standards of paragraph (2) of
subdivision (b) of Section 2081. Where moneys are used to fund
mitigation actions, including the acquisition of lands or
conservation easements, or the restoration of lands, that use shall
be in addition to, and not duplicative of, mitigation obtained
through any other means.
(d) The department and the Energy Commission shall not allow any
use of the interim mitigation strategy subsequent to a determination
by the department that the time and extent of mitigation actions are
not being implemented in rough proportion to the impacts of those
projects. The department shall reinstitute the use of the interim
mitigation strategy when the department determines the rough
proportionality between mitigation actions and impacts of eligible
projects has been reestablished by the completion of additional
mitigation actions.

2099.5. (a) The department shall collect a permit application fee
from the owner or developer of an eligible project, as defined in
Section 2099, to support its permitting of eligible projects pursuant
to this chapter. The owner or developer of a proposed eligible
project shall pay a one-time permit application fee of seventy-five
thousand dollars ($75,000) to the department.
(b) The department shall collect the permit application fee, at
the time the owner or developer submits its permit application or,
for eligible projects for which an application has already been
submitted, within 30 days of the operative date of this section. The
department shall utilize the permit application fee to pay for all or
a portion of the department's cost of processing incidental take
permit applications pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 2081 and
Section 2080.1. If the permit application fee is insufficient to
complete permitting work due to the complexity of a project or
timeline delays, the department may collect an additional fee from
the owner or developer to pay for its actual costs, not to exceed an
additional seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000).
(c) For an eligible project seeking site certification, pursuant
to Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 25500) of Division 1 of the
Public Resources Code, by the Energy Commission, as defined in
Section 2099, the owner or developer shall pay the permit application
fee directly to the department. The permit application fee paid to
the department shall fund the department's participation in the
Energy Commission's site certification process as the state's trustee
for natural resources. The permit application fee shall be in
addition to any application fees collected directly by the Energy
Commission. The permit application fee shall be due and payable
within 30 days of the operative date of this section.
(d) Permit application fees paid pursuant to this chapter shall be
deposited in the Fish and Game Preservation Fund and shall be
eligible for expenditure by the department pursuant to subdivision
(b) of Section 2081 and Section 2080.1.
(e) The sum of one million six hundred fifty thousand dollars
($1,650,000) is hereby appropriated to the department from the Fish
and Game Preservation Fund for the purposes of this section. These
funds shall be available for expenditure through June 30, 2011.
(f) If an owner or developer withdraws a project within 30 days
after paying the permit application fee, the department shall refund
any unused portion of the fee to the owner or developer.

2100. (a) The commission established pursuant to Section 2099 shall
represent the full range of opinions and viewpoints regarding the
protection of candidate, endangered, and threatened species and the
regulatory taking of private property. The membership of the
commission shall consist of equal numbers of persons meeting each of
the following criteria:
(1) Persons who advocate the primacy of the market. This group
shall include advocates of the free market philosophy and
representatives of regulated industries and landowners, including the
extractive industries.
(2) Persons who advocate that natural resources and endangered
species are public trust resources, the protection of which should be
regulated. This group shall include conservation biologists,
environmental economists, historic preservationists, and others who
advocate that the market should take full account of the claims of
public trust values associated with protection of the public's
natural heritage and the cost of environmental degradation.
(b) The California Research Bureau shall provide staffing for the
commission.