SECTION 1.
(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(1) Wildlife, including birds of prey, mountain lions, bobcats, fishers, foxes, coyotes, and endangered species such as the northern spotted owl, pacific fisher, and San Joaquin kit fox, are an irreplaceable part of California’s natural ecosystems. As predators of small mammals, they play an important role in regulating and controlling the population of rodents throughout the state to improve public health and welfare.
(2) Millions of people annually visit California for the purposes of viewing and
photographing wildlife, and these visits contribute millions of dollars to California’s economy.
(3) Urban areas are increasingly being used by predatory mammals and birds of prey and the public enjoys seeing them and values these animals and the ecosystem services they provide.
(4) The ecosystem services provided by native wildlife predators are a public trust, just like clean air and water. We, as California residents, are obligated to conserve these wildlife populations for future generations of Californians.
(5) Scientific research and state studies have found rodenticides in over 75 percent of animals tested. These rodenticides lead to direct mortality and chronic long-term health impacts for natural predators,
nontarget organisms, and endangered species and further steps are needed to reduce rodenticide exposure in nontarget animals.
(6) While all anticoagulant rodenticides have a harmful impact on nontarget animals, second generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs) are particularly dangerous to nontarget wildlife as SGARs are higher potency than prior generations and a single dose has a half-life of more than 100 days in a rodent’s liver. Due to high toxicity and concern for impact on nontarget wildlife, Department of Pesticide Regulation banned consumer sales and use of SGARs in 2014, restricting their purchase and use to certified pesticide applicators.
(7) Despite the 2014 regulations issued by the Department of Pesticide Regulation, scientific research and state studies
have found no significant reduction in the number of nontarget wildlife with detectable levels of SGARs in their system. From 2014 through 2018, the Department of Fish and Wildlife found SGARs in more than 90 percent of tested mountain lions, 88 percent of tested bobcats, 85 percent of protected Pacific fishers tested, and 70 of northern spotted owls tested. Such data indicates that a consumer sales and use ban of SGARs has been insufficient to reduce rodenticide exposure in nontarget animals and further steps must be taken.
(8) Rodenticides can be counterproductive to rodent control by poisoning, harming, and killing natural predators that help regulate rodent populations throughout California.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this act to ensure that
aquatic, terrestrial, and avian wildlife species remain a fully functional component of the ecosystems they inhabit and move through in California.
(c) This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the California Ecosystems Protection Act of 2019.