Bill Text: CA AB550 | 2025-2026 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: The California Endangered Species Act: take of species proposed for listing: renewable electrical generation facilities.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Engrossed) 2026-08-03 - In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. [AB550 Detail]
Download: California-2025-AB550-Amended.html
|
Amended
IN
Senate
June 25, 2026 |
|
Amended
IN
Assembly
May 06, 2025 |
|
Amended
IN
Assembly
April 07, 2025 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 550
| Introduced by Assembly Member Petrie-Norris |
February 11, 2025 |
An act to amend Section 2081 of, and to add Section 2081.3 to to, the Fish and Game Code, relating to fish and wildlife.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 550, as amended, Petrie-Norris.
The California Endangered Species Act: take of species: species proposed for listing: renewable electrical generation facilities.
The California Endangered Species Act prohibits the taking of an endangered, threatened, or candidate species, except as specified. Under the act, the Department of Fish and Wildlife may authorize the take of listed species by certain entities through permits or memorandums of understanding for specified purposes. The act allows take of an endangered, threatened, or candidate species by permit if, among other things, the impact of the authorized take is fully minimized and mitigated.
This bill would also allow the department to authorize by permit the take of a species proposed for listing, as defined, if specified conditions are met. The bill would
provide that if an at-risk species, as defined, a species proposed for listing becomes listed as an endangered, threatened, or candidate species, further authorization or approval shall not be required for a take of that species, if specified conditions are met, including that the potential listing of the at-risk species was anticipated in a permit previously issued by the department for the species proposed for listing was included as a covered species in a permit previously issued by the department for incidental take and that the incidental take
is
caused by a renewable electrical generation facility. The bill would authorize the department, in partnership with a permit applicant for an incidental
take caused by a renewable electrical generation facility, to develop a research project that evaluates specified factors. The bill would authorize a research project reviewed and approved by the department to contribute to a renewable electrical generation project’s mitigation, as provided. The bill would require the department to report to the Legislature specified information, including among other things, a report on each at-risk species authorized for take, as provided. The bill would require the department to, on or before January 31, 2033, compile and post a summary table on its internet website with specified information for calendar years 2027 to 2032, inclusive.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) California has created ambitious climate and energy goals to achieve a net zero carbon economy by 2045. The California Air Resources Board “2022 Scoping Plan for Achieving Carbon Neutrality” calls for the state to cut air pollution by 71 percent and to reduce fossil fuel consumption by 86 percent.
(b) The 100 Percent Clean Energy Act of 2018 (Chapter 312 of the Statutes of 2018) updated the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program (Article 16 (commencing with Section 399.11) of Chapter 2.3 of Part 1 of Division
1 of the Public Utilities Code) to ensure that by 2030 at least 60 percent of California’s electricity is renewable and for the state to provide 100 percent of its retail sales from zero-emission sources by 2045.
(c) It is the policy of the state to conserve, protect, restore, and enhance any endangered species or any threatened species and its habitat. The conservation, protection, and enhancement of these species and their habitats is of statewide concern.
(d) Certain species of fish, wildlife, and plants have been rendered endangered or threatened as a consequence of human activity, including climate change. All state agencies, boards, and commissions should seek to conserve endangered and threatened species.
(e) Clean energy projects often result in impacts to and the take of endangered species or threatened species, but clean energy projects can also help mitigate climate change, and advancing clean energy development in the state can in this way help protect endangered or threatened species.
(f) The state’s ambitious climate and energy goals will require a massive buildout of new clean energy projects. The state must nearly double its clean energy capacity over the next five years alone to stay on track with its goals.
(g) These goals may be achieved through a collaborative stewardship approach
to protecting endangered or threatened species while catalyzing the development of clean
energy.
SEC. 2.
Section 2081 of the Fish and Game Code is amended to read:2081.
The department may authorize acts that are otherwise prohibited pursuant to Section 2080, as follows:(a) Through permits or memorandums of understanding, the department may authorize individuals, public agencies, universities, zoological gardens, and scientific or educational institutions, to import, export, take, or possess any endangered species, threatened species, or candidate species for scientific, educational, or management purposes.
(b) The department may authorize, by permit, the take of endangered species, threatened species, and candidate species
candidate species, and species proposed for listing, as defined in subdivision (c) of Section 2081.3, if all of the following conditions are met:
(1) The take is incidental to an otherwise lawful activity.
(2) The impacts of the authorized take shall be minimized and fully mitigated. The measures required to meet this obligation shall be roughly proportional in extent to the impact of the authorized taking on the species. Where various measures are available to meet this obligation, the measures required shall maintain the applicant’s objectives to the greatest extent possible. All required measures shall be capable of successful implementation. For purposes of this section only, impacts of taking include all impacts on the species that result from any act that would cause the proposed taking.
(3) (A) The applicant shall ensure adequate funding to implement the measures required by paragraph (2), and for monitoring compliance with, and effectiveness of, those measures.
(B) For purposes of this section, transportation funding identified in the State Highway System Management Plan shall be presumed to ensure adequate funding for the long-term maintenance of a habitat connectivity or wildlife corridor structure on the state highway system, but not for the habitat on or around the structure. To ensure adequate funding to maintain the habitat on or around the structure, the applicant shall provide an endowment.
(4) The department has sufficient information to determine the impact of the authorized take on, and
compliance with paragraphs (2) and (3) for, the species proposed for listing.
(c) No permit may be issued pursuant to subdivision (b) if issuance of the permit would jeopardize the continued existence of the species. The department shall make this determination based on the best scientific and other information that is reasonably available, and shall include consideration of the species’ capability to survive and reproduce, and any adverse impacts of the taking on those abilities in light of (1) known population trends; (2) known threats to the species; and (3) reasonably foreseeable impacts on the species from other related projects and activities.
(d) The department shall adopt regulations to aid in the implementation of subdivision (b) and the requirements of Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code, with respect to
authorization of take. The department may seek certification pursuant to Section 21080.5 of the Public Resources Code to implement subdivision (b).
(e) Commencing January 1, 2019, the department shall post each new permit issued pursuant to subdivision (b) on its internet website within 15 days of the effective date of the permit.
SEC. 2.SEC. 3.
Section 2081.3 is added to the Fish and Game Code, to read:2081.3.
(a) If(1) The potential listing of the at-risk species was anticipated species proposed for listing was included as a covered species in a permit previously issued by the department pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 2081 for incidental take caused take.
(2) The incidental take is caused by a renewable electrical generation facility, as defined in Section 25741 of the Public Resources Code.
(2)
(3) The take is in compliance with both the terms of Section 2081 and the terms of the permit described in paragraph (1).
2081.
(b)(1)The department may, in partnership with an applicant of a permit
described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a), develop a research project that evaluates all of the following:
(A)The impact of the renewable electrical generation facility’s siting, design, and construction on the at-risk species and its habitat.
(B)The take of an at-risk species.
(C)Any other elements the department seeks to include.
(2)Research projects that are reviewed and approved by the department may contribute towards a renewable electrical generation project’s mitigation, pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 2081, to the degree the department deems fit.
(c)(1)On or before January 1, 2030, the department shall report to the Legislature, in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code, and directly transmit a copy of the report to the relevant policy and fiscal committees, regarding all of the following:
(A)The projects that included an at-risk species in a take authorization pursuant to Section 2081 and each at risk-species authorized for take.
(B)The effectiveness of this section for both species protection and project security.
(C)The staff time and resources required to accomplish this section.
(2)This subdivision shall become inoperative on January 1, 2034, pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code.
(b) On or before January 31, 2033, the department shall compile and post a summary table on its internet website that includes, at a minimum, all of the following information for calendar years 2027 to 2032, inclusive:
(1) The projects that included a species proposed for listing as a covered species in a take authorization pursuant to Section 2081, including identification of the species concerned and if the species proposed for listing advanced to candidacy or listing.
(2) Any additional relevant information as determined by the department.
(d)
(c) For purposes of this section, “at-risk species” includes species proposed “species proposed for listing” means a species recommended by the department or petitioned by an interested party 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. An at-risk species is not an endangered, threatened, or candidate species.
before the commission determines if the species will be designated as a candidate species.
