(a) This article shall be known and may be cited as the California State Safe Harbor Agreement Program Act.

(b) The Legislature finds that a key to the goals set forth in this article of conserving, protecting, restoring, and enhancing endangered, threatened, and candidate species, is their habitat. A significant portion of the state’s current and potential habitat for these species exists on property owned by private citizens, municipalities, tribes, and other nonfederal entities. Conservation efforts on these lands and waters are critical to help these declining species. Using a collaborative stewardship approach to these lands and waters will help ensure the success of these efforts.

Terms Used In California Fish and Game Code 2089.2

  • Agreement: includes an agreement with an individual landowner and a programmatic agreement. See California Fish and Game Code 2089.4
  • Baseline: Projection of the receipts, outlays, and other budget amounts that would ensue in the future without any change in existing policy. Baseline projections are used to gauge the extent to which proposed legislation, if enacted into law, would alter current spending and revenue levels.
  • Declining or vulnerable species: include candidate species, species proposed for listing as an endangered or threatened species pursuant to this chapter, or species that the department determines may, in the near future, be candidate species or proposed for listing as an endangered or threatened species pursuant to this chapter. See California Fish and Game Code 2089.4
  • Department: means the Department of Fish and Wildlife, acting through its director or his or her designee. See California Fish and Game Code 2089.4
  • Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
  • State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Fish and Game Code 83

(c) The purpose of this article is to establish a program that will encourage landowners to manage their lands voluntarily to benefit endangered, threatened, or candidate species, or declining or vulnerable species, and not be subject to additional regulatory restrictions as a result of their conservation efforts.

(d) This article does not relieve landowners of any legal obligation with respect to endangered, threatened, or candidate species existing on their land. The program established by this article is designed to increase species populations, create new habitats, and enhance existing habitats. Although this increase may be temporary or long term, California state safe harbor agreements shall not reduce the existing populations of species present at the time the baseline is established by the department.

(Amended by Stats. 2018, Ch. 329, Sec. 15. (SB 473) Effective January 1, 2019.)

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