2098-2100
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.