California's take on the incidental take issue: new law enacted

[Fern Davies]

California is now dealing with the incidental take of migratory birds on its own, in response to the federal government's declaration that the law does not prohibit incidental take. On Sept 27, the governor signed Assembly Bill 454, which states that incidental to otherwise lawful activity is permitted only if the entity completes a certification process by submitting certain information to the department, and the entity implements best management practices for avoiding, minimizing, and mitigating take of migratory nongame birds, as identified by the entity pursuant to specified guidelines, so that there is no that are intended to avoid significant adverse impact, impacts, as defined, to migratory nongame birds from the activity. birds. The bill would require, as a condition of this incidental take authority, part of the certification process, the submission of an annual status reports to the department after the initial certification. The bill would specify the information to include in a certification and annual status reports.

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB2627